General Guidelines for a Healthy Lifestyle! Part 3!!

Two things have an important role to play in leading a healthy lifestyle. The same applies for disease management and preventive health too. One is diet and the other one is exercise. Diet I discussed in detail in my last two parts of general dietary guidelines post. Now am going to discuss in detail about Exercise and Lifestyle Changes.

Let’s discuss about exercise first. As we know the importance of meal timings, meal quantities and meal quality, exercise also has certain factors to be considered like the time of exercise, the type of exercise and the duration of exercise. These factors have a deciding role to play in achieving your set targets.

We might have often heard of people saying, if we start on some activity like dance or yoga or gym or any form of exercise and if we stop, we will put on weight. Here I want to tell you that it’s not because that you stopped the activity. It’s because you lost the balance between your intake (food) and your output (exercise). You followed a certain diet and exercise, and then might have stopped the exercise but the diet pattern might have continued which results in an imbalance of excess intake and less expenditure, leading to weight gain. The key point here is, maintaining this balance everyday is very important.

Coming to the exercise timing, we always have a debate on what is the right time to do it. Anytime is better than not doing anything. Timing has to depend on what you have to achieve. Say, it’s just for maintenance and general well being, doing it any part of the day is fine. But if you have specific goals like weight loss, hormonal imbalance like thyroid disorder, PCOS etc, and then it’s recommended to do it in the early morning.

Let’s understand how it helps if you do it in the morning. Once we have dinner and sleep, we have a long gap of time by the time we wake up and our blood sugar levels will be normal by the time we get up. So we have chances of using more from the stored calories from fat.

• When we start a work out, first 10 minutes we use the use the energy from the blood glucose.
• Till next 20 minutes, we derive the calories from the stored form of glucose i.e. glycogen.
• After 20-25 minutes, then we start burning our fat. 

If we do it in the evening, our blood sugar levels will be high as we keep eating something or the other throughout day and our body uses the glucose which is readily available in the blood rather than going to the fat stores. I mean who doesn’t want quick fixes? So, you have better chances to burn your calories from fat if you can do it in the morning rather than evening.

Second thing is duration of exercise. For fat or weight loss, always do a prolonged activity. Duration should not be less than 40 minutes. Then only fat burning comes into play and you can get efficient results.

Another important point is your breathing. We often observe people either talking to one another or over phone while walking. It’s not a healthy way of doing your workout. Remember one thing, how much ever intensive workout you may do, if you don’t supply the necessary oxygen via breathing, you cannot burn your fat.

Fat burning is a chemical reaction which is aerobic in nature and doesn’t happen in the absence of oxygen. So whatever workout you do, make sure you take in lungs full of oxygen to improve your efficiency to burn your fat and your stamina to live. Our lungs capacity is 2 litres and we hardly take half a litre of oxygen in each breath. So keep an eye watch on your breath. Remember, if you can have a control over your breath then you can have control over anything else.

The third point is the type of exercise. We basically have three types.

• Aerobic exercises which include brisk walking, running, jogging, swimming, skipping, aerobics, zumba etc.
• Anaerobic exercises include strength and muscle training.
• Flexibility exercises which include stretching exercises like yoga.

It’s always good to make a combination of these three in a proportion which can aim at giving you the desired results. Seek counselling from a trained exercise expert who can guide you in a better way to achieve your results.

Lifestyle Changes:

Lifestyle changes play a major role in the health and wellness of a person. Exercise we do for a hour in a day and rest all 23 hours is how we lead our lives. Living sedentary lifestyle has a direct negative effect on health. In today’s life, when we have more choices than ever in almost every aspect of our lives, most of us choose to be stationary. That’s why we are always tired, always stressed and always struggling to lose weight.

The World Health Organization estimates that a lack of physical activity is associated with 3.2 million deaths a year. Sedentary lifestyle leads to various lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hormonal disorders etc. It will end up with loss of muscle and bone strength also.

So, how to combat a sedentary lifestyle?

We need our bodies to maintain lean muscle tissue so we can perform our daily tasks without hurting or taxing our bodies. In a long time this kind of living becomes extremely difficult where in performing ordinary events like grocery shopping or picking up things, become much more difficult. 

The problem with our sedentary lifestyle is that even if you exercise regularly, it might not be sufficient to combat all those hours you spend sitting at work. People spend so much time not moving, that even those 30 minutes at the gym aren’t enough to counteract all those hours at our desks

The good news is that you can prevent the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, even if you do work in an office environment.

• Have walking meetings. Keep your brain engaged and legs moving by scheduling walking meetings with your team.
• Try heading to outdoors solo next time when you need to brainstorm or to be creative.
• Being up on your feet and not sitting in a chair can spark your creativity as your body sends blood to the brain. Plus, you can walk to lose weight at the same time.
• Walk and talk instead of sending emails. Now we even see people chatting sitting next to each other. Cut back on the electronic clutter, and walk over to your colleagues’ desks to get the details instead. These ways will help to keep your body active.

Need more new Ideas? Try these:

• Gossip on the phone while walking around the house instead of sitting on the sofa.
• Start taking stairs and avoid escalators
• Always get your glass of water instead of asking someone else.
• Pick up your lunch instead of ordering delivery.
• Do some stretches instead of lounging while watching TV.
• Engage yourself in hobby time. Gardening is one of the best hobbies for stress relief. It gets you outside, in nature and away from problems.
• Get up and dance the next time when your favorite song comes in radio or TV.

You might have to sit several hours a day, but there is no reason why you can't take a stand and change your sedentary lifestyle. The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm. All the advice in the world will never help until you help yourself. So help yourself with these lifestyle changes.

General Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Lifestyle! Part Two!!

Along with the importance of meal timings, it’s also equally important to keep our diet balanced with all the essential nutrients in recommended proportions. Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and stabilizing your mood. 

One should not make drastic changes when they decide to go healthier. This will always end up as unfinished tasks and people often lose the confidence on diet concepts as well as themselves. It’s important to analyse your existing eating pattern and start making slight changes. As your small changes become habits, you can continue to add more healthy choices.

Don’t be over concerned about calories. Make simple changes first. Think of adding colour, variety and freshness to your meals. Focus on avoiding packaged and processed foods.

It’s very important to focus on how you feel after eating. This will help you to add on more new healthy habits and tastes. It is really important to take this practice further, as it helps to continue for a long time.

People often get mistaken their thirst sensation for hunger. Drinking water helps to flush out the toxins and other waste products. I will share a magic secret about thirst for people who don’t drink water. Water has a thirst quenching nature. The more we drink the more we feel like drinking. So, you just make a start, it will take off on its own to the healthy way.

Eating alone, especially in front of the TV or computer, often leads to mindless overeating. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full. The key to a healthy diet is moderation. Moderation is eating as much as your body needs. It’s also about balancing all the essential nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, fat, fibre, vitamins and minerals.  

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy to the body. 45-65 % of the total calories that we take everyday should be from carbohydrates. Brain consumes only glucose and it requires continuous supply of glucose, which can be supplied by carbohydrates. So, carbohydrates should not be restricted too much. It’s always recommended to take the necessary.

Now it’s important to decide upon the type of carbohydrates. There are two kinds simple and complex. 

• Simple carbohydrates are simple sugars, honey, chocolates, sweats, all processed foods etc. These types of carbohydrates are not so healthy. These should be minimised.
• Complex carbohydrates like whole grain cereals are good for health as they also give the necessary micronutrients and fibre, which are missing in the polished rice. Include whole grain cereals like whole wheat, brown rice (unpolished or semi-polished rice), ragi, oats, brown bread, quinoa, barley etc. 

Healthy carbs are digested slowly, helping you feel full longer and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels stable. If whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat flour don’t sound good at first, start by mixing what you normally use with the whole grains. You can gradually increase the whole grain.

Proteins are very important as they are the building blocks of the body. There are millions of cells in the body which have a wear and tear process throughout life. Apart from this, protein is an integral part of most of the enzymes and hormones which regulate the major functions of the body. 

• The best protein sources are egg, meat and meat products, milk and milk products, pulses and legumes. The protein from non-vegetarian sources is good and abundant but for people who want to lose weight needs to be very careful in choosing the foods as these non-vegetarian sources also contain lot of fat along with the protein. 
• So, choosing the right source of protein is utmost important. Adults need 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. According to your body weight, distribute your protein intake among the three meals. 

A concern to be addressed in today’s world. People think that carbohydrates are starchy and not good and not required and proteins are the best. Carbohydrates are starchy if you chooses the refined ones. Coming to proteins excess intake is always damaging to the body as the end products of protein metabolism like urea, ammonia and uric acid are harmful and increases the work load of kidneys in eliminating them. This coupled with less intake of water worsens the condition

Fat is the third nutrient which is important. Fat is a very essential nutrient and has got many functions to perform. We take this particular nutrient in excess most of the times which has got many health hazards. So recommendation and limitation are very important in the management of weight and also health.

Fat is also of different types. Irrespective of the type of fat, they provide the same calories but the health effects are different. There are three types of fats namely saturated fats, mono unsaturated fats and poly unsaturated fats.

• Saturated fats include ghee, butter, hydrogenated fat (vanaspathi or dalda), coconut oil etc. These type of fats tend to increase the cholesterol levels in the body and they trigger the onset and progression of cardio vascular diseases. So, it’s always good to avoid or use in moderation (should not exceed 5%of the total fat requirement). 
• Mono unsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, mustard oil etc. 
• Polyunsaturated fats are found mainly in many fish, nuts, seed and oils from plants (any vegetable oil like sunflower, safflower etc). There are two fractions called omega-3 and omega-6. Maintaining this ratio is very important and this depends on the choice of foods again (refer a dietitian for more information). Using combination of oils is important to maintain health.

Vitamins and Minerals are called as micronutrients as their requirement is very minimal but that minimal quantity should be supplied daily to manage the bodily functions. Vitamins and minerals are the essential components of many enzymes and hormones. They act as catalysts in most of the biochemical reactions in the process of releasing energy. 

• As we eat everyday and energy release also happens every time, it’s important to supply the micronutrients also. Sometimes we eat properly every meal still we may feel weak. In such instances doctors may suggest to take B-complex tablets. Why? It’s not because they supply the energy directly but they aid in the supply.
• We get these micronutrients mainly from fruits and vegetables and also from whole grains. Include 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Fibre is a non-nutrient but very essential and does many functions in the body. There are two types of fibres soluble and insoluble. 

• The soluble fibre has a cholesterol lowering effect may be subtle, still, it reduces the risk of heart diseases. It also lowers or at least stabilizes the blood sugar (glucose) levels.
• The insoluble fibre functions believed to prevent constipation and to reduce the risk of colon cancer.

The sources of fibre are grains especially whole grain cereals, fresh vegetables and fruits. No animal foods provide any fibre. If you haven't been eating enough fibre, it's wise to increase your intake slowly. Sudden increase can cause problems like gas, bloating, diarrhoea etc. It's also important to drink plenty of water when eating lots of fibre. Otherwise, it may irritate your digestive tract.

Developing healthy habits will be easy if you do it together. Always have a family meal time. It motivates each other to adopt the healthy approach and you can relish the benefits together too.

General Dietary Guidelines for a Healthy Lifestyle! Part One!!

Healthy lifestyle includes a balanced diet and active physical life. Active physical life does not merely mean exercise. It’s about staying active all through the day along with a piece of exercise.

Let’s talk about healthy eating here.

Healthy eating includes

• Eating the right type of foods and right quality foods

• Eating the right quantities of foods

• Eating the right foods at the right time

The meal timing is very important as it can affect the human metabolism. The meal timing has got a role to play in the energy balance and weight maintenance.

Large meals’ taking twice a day is not so advisable. Short and frequent meals are good for health. To understand this concept we need to understand the process of digestion and energy release. The food when enters the stomach takes around 2-3 hours time to digest and this solely depends on the type of food that we take. A heavy fatty meal may take up to 4 hours where as a simple meal may take up to 3 hours. 

The time of meal and the time that takes for digestion and the timing of energy release are important in the management of weight. 

Early breakfast, followed by lunch and early and light dinner are idealistic with in between mid meals. Small and frequent meals helps in slow and sustained release of energy which further helps in easy disposal of the released energy without depositing into fat stores as the small portion of released energy is easy to spend.

One more important point is our physical activity should be matched as per the food intake. For example, take the case of typical housewives who start their day’s activity early in the morning and tend to work long hours and majority skip or have a late breakfast. The logic here is as long as they are working there is no energy supply as there is no intake and once they have their intakes there is no further activity. This pattern of days plan may provoke a person’s body to store more of unused energy as fat or adipose tissue. 

So, planning the meal frequency has a critical role to play in weight management along with the type and quantity of foods that are consumed. 

Another most commonly observed cause of weight gain is late dinners, which we can observe in all major fields of work. Because of the work demands and raising stress levels, managing healthy eating and maintaining active physical activity has become a challenge. Late and heavy dinners result in increased energy supply. People usually have late dinner and plan to sleep immediately or may be within a short while. Whereas the food that they had, takes some three hours minimum to digest and metabolize and release the energy. By the time the energy is released the body will be in resting phase and then what will be the fate of this released energy? 

The tendency of our body is when the muscles are in active state (when we work or physically active) the released energy is disseminated and used up by the muscle groups. Whereas when the body is in resting state, the released energy i.e. glucose can’t just remain in blood as it also has got its normalcy values. Blood cannot hold more than 80-120 mgs of glucose per deciliter of blood. If it’s more than that (expect in post meal state) then we are called Diabetics. So now this excess glucose has to find an alternate route when the body is in idle state. Here the only alternate source is the excess energy gets converted into fat and gets deposited at the various parts of the body. There is no limitation to store fat in the body. This excess fat in terms of triglycerides gets stored in the body and the increases the risk of various disorders and diseases.

So to avoid all these negative consequences one has to manage the meal frequency timings and meal quantities and also keep oneself active throughout the day. 

Human body is an intricate mechanism combined of various systems. All these systems have a systematic functioning to achieve the efficiency of performing their duties. Imagine disturbing our digestive system daily with a different pattern of food intake with different quantities, with different timings how can we expect that system to function efficiently? Not only that, each system is dependent on others for overall functioning. Disturbing one system by us does not stop there, that in turn disturbs the functioning of the other coordinated systems also and similar kind of pattern in long run results in the onset of a diseased state. 

So, timely quantified meal intake is very important and this aspect requires immediate attention to draw from each one of us. So check your food and activity patterns with a simple assessment from a certified nutrition counselor to help and serve yourself better.