She is passionate about Nutrition and that explains Shimpli’s Master’s degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics. This topper from Mumbai University also has a certification in Food Processing and Preservation and in Nutrition and Exercise for Fitness. That’s not all; she has a keen interest in the area of product development and has worked on the development of protein fortified chocolates in collaboration with Cadbury India Pvt Ltd, as a part of MSc. RnD. For over 3 years now she has been practicing as a clinical nutrition consultant. Shimpli is also a trained dancer from Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts and strongly believes that dance is the best exercise for Mind and Body and when dance is combined with the right nutrition it is the correct recipe for a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

About Shimpli Patil

March 19, 2019 By Shimpli Patil 7 Comments

Lemon Water and Weight Loss: Are They Really Connected?

Lemon! There’s no doubt that this bright yellow, all season fruit has innumerable advantages. If I were to list down the benefits, it would be endless. The foremost advantage of lemon is its power to enhance the flavor of our kitchen. Packed with vitamin C, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, pectin fiber and citric acid, this fruit has been known to boost immunity and take it to another level.

It is anti-bacterial in nature, thus protecting you from the clutches of most infections. It’s also a blood purifier and known to rejuvenate the skin by taking away acne and wrinkles. It’s a perfect morning drink! It aids in the elimination of waste products from the body and promotes quick bursts of energy.

I have seen many people using lemon water as a way to lose weight. Does it really help in weight loss? The good news is that it does! Lemon water has shown to have real weight loss powers. It actually helps accelerate the process of weight loss.

Let’s understand the Weight Loss Mechanisms of Lemon

Drinking lemon water in the morning helps activate the detoxifying process. It clears out toxins and some internal waste from the body. Once the toxins are out, it accelerates our sluggish metabolism, increasing our calorie burning capacity
It has diuretic and laxative effect, enabling smooth bowels and cleansing of colon. Lingering waste in the colon also adds on to the weight and results in bloating. Removal of the lingering waste helps drop some kilos then and there itself
Lemon water helps cleanse the liver. Some components of lemon stimulate the liver to produce more bile. Bile is a chemical that helps in fat digestion. This process helps metabolize fat faster
Having lemon water with a meal also stimulates the production of gastric juices that enhance digestion
Lemon is packed with Vitamin C. According to an article published in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition” in 2005, vitamin C is inversely related to our body mass. Reports suggest that having enough vitamin C can stimulate a series of chemical reactions that breakdown body fat and use it as energy
It creates an alkaline atmosphere in the stomach which is conducive to weight loss and helps shed off the kilos faster
It contains a fibre called pectin (especially the lemon peel). Pectin is known to cut down hunger cravings and provide satiety effects, thus, exerting control on overeating
Last but not the least – substituting other drinks (colas/sugary fruit juices, etc) with lemon water certainly reduces the caloric consumption as lemon water adds ZERO calories to your body each time you drink it as compared to the other drinks. If you choose to replace the other drinks with lemon water every day for months or even a year, it will help you lose weight

This simple and tiny fruit is the perfect example of how “Big Surprises Come in Small Packages!”

Make it a point to begin the day with a glass of lemon water daily. Enjoy its positive effects on your health and weight in the long run.

November 7, 2018 By Shimpli Patil 1 Comment

Eat smart this Diwali!

The festive season has begun and the excitement sees no bounds. After having loads of fun during Navratri it’s now the festival of lights- Diwali.

With Diwali comes outings, guests visit, dinner parties, etc. all of which are inevitable. More often than not we end up indulging in sweets and other sinful foods and then feel guilty for all the wrong eating, which then makes us look for some easy and quick ways to shed off those extra kilos that we gained during the festive season. But, the unfortunate part is that we end up resorting to all the wrong ways of shedding that extra weight which again has a YO-YO effect (bounce back).

I would love to share a few health tips for you which would help you stay away from this vicious cycle of bingingà feeling guiltyà weight gainà wrong methods of losing weightà weight gainà feeling guilty again

Try this-

If you plan to go out, don’t go on an empty stomach. Eat a small snack before you head out. Choose snacks like boiled corn, mix veggie salad, a fruit bowl, sprouts, veggie soup, yogurt with crushed nuts, whole wheat bread sandwich, etc. This will keep you full and thereby prevent binging/overeating when you are
If one meal goes for a toss, make sure the rest of the meals are absolutely on track. E.g. If you have a dinner party planned, make sure your meals through the day (breakfast, lunch, snacking items) are very much balanced and healthier.
Sip water frequently throughout the day. It will keep you hydrated and will also satiate the false hunger.
Pick healthier desserts- Choose dry fruits/fruits/kheer/phirni/shrikhand (you can make it using hung curd)/dark chocolates/til or peanut chikkis/dink laddoos (gum arabic)/ sheera/ date rolls/ date-walnut mithai, etc. over any other sugar-loaded sweets. Sweets made out of jaggery or organic honey are good to go. Remember, we need to take care of the portions too.
Choose baked food items over deep fried ones.
Compensate- It’s true that saying “NO” when you are offered sweets by your loved ones especially during this festive season is going to be difficult. Don’t worry! Pick one, eat it mindfully and enjoy the eating experience. Now you know what to do next. Compensate for your extra caloric intake in your following meals. More fibre (salads, veggies), good amount of proteins and lesser carbs.
Go easy on the alcohol. It’s a major dehydrator and contains empty calories. Choose red wine or vodka over any other hard drinks. Sangria would be the best option here (cut fruits in red wine).
Be a health-conscious host this Diwali. Serve snacks like dhokla, masala peanuts, unsalted nuts and dry fruits, sprout-chaat, fruit salad, idlis, baked chaklis Avoid serving soft drinks or artificial juices. Lemon water, jal jeera, flavoured milk, spiced buttermilk, fresh fruit juice would be some better options here.
Firecrackers are going to pollute the air. The pollutants (free radicals) have an easy access to our body as we breathe. Neutralize the free radicals by consuming adequate antioxidants through colourful fruits, berries and vegetables.
Last but not the least, don’t forget to work out! Workouts would kick your body metabolism in high gear, helping you burn calories faster. It’s best to get your workout done before going out for a party. The spiked metabolism would help you burn better when you eat at the party.

Enjoy the festival, stay mindful throughout and have a great time! Happy Diwali Folks!!

July 19, 2018 By Shimpli Patil 8 Comments

Interval training, to put your fat on flame!

Most of us have this desirable goal of losing fat but, when asked to get acting on it, we have a fixed set of excuses ready- No time! Too tough for me! Too boring to repeat the same pattern etc…

Well, it’s time to ditch these excuses and rev up the workouts, which would consume lesser time, could be easily done, least monotonous as you can get creative and come up with your own style… and not to forget- The most effective workout to reduce the fat- Interval training it is!!

Interval training is a workout in which we alternate the bursts of high-intensity exercises with intervals of lighter activity. All that we do here is, we repeatedly challenge our body and then give it shorter breaks to recover, for a massive cardio blast. It helps burn more calories in a short period of time, as compared to a steady-state exercise.

Here’s how it works-

When we vary the intensity while working out, it leads to muscle confusion. Our body gets confused and wonders what’s happening! As a regulatory mechanism, our heart rate shoots up and it starts pumping more blood. More the blood, higher the Oxygen and to your surprise fat combustion occurs more efficiently in the presence of Oxygen.

Ever wondered why candle stops burning when we put a glass over it and block the Oxygen? That’s exactly the principle. Any burning process requires O2 which is a key to burning fat. And since interval training involves a lot of Oxygen, it’s been gaining fame in the fat loss/inch loss sector.

There are no hard and fast rules in interval training. We can have variations as we want, to make it most enjoyable and thus keep boredom at bay.

We can-

Interval walk: Walking fast for 2 minutes, then walking slowly for a minute, again fast, then slow and go on this way as long as we can.

Interval runs Alternating 2 minutes run with a 1-minute walk.

Interval swim: Alternating fast-paced swimming moves with slow-paced moves.

We can also try this with cycling, dancing, strengthening exercises (Tabata- being the most popular form of High-Intensity Interval Training) and the list can go on.

It’s quite possible to take interval training to many levels. The length and speed of each high-intensity interval solely depend upon our strength and capacity. To get better with it, we need to make sure we push our body way past our comfort zone each time we do it. Remember, not to rush into strenuous exercise before our body is ready, to avoid injury. Ensure a good warm-up session before starting with it, and end it with stretches.

If you are a novice exerciser, I would say, don’t start with interval training directly. Give your body some time to build the stamina with steady cardio workouts for a few weeks to a month. You can then add interval training to your routine. In fact, you can also add these interval training plans to your gym routine once a week to enhance your speed and cardiovascular endurance.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into your workout shoes and jazz up your workout routine by adding interval training! You can self-observe the changes in your body fat levels. Just pull out a measuring tape, measure your inches before you start with the training and re-measure them after a good gap (say, after a month). You may be surprised with the result. There may be a subtraction in your inches which indicates a drop in fat percentage.

P.s. If you have a chronic health condition (Hypertension or Cardiovascular illness), it’s better to keep away from interval training to avoid any aggravation.

July 4, 2018 By Shimpli Patil 1 Comment

How important is it to know if you’re Thirsty or Hungry

Am I hungry or am I thirsty? That’s the question I have started asking myself when I get hunger pangs. This has happened to me quite often when i have just had a meal and I feel hungry within an hour. One day, I decided to conduct an experiment on myself wherein I just placed a glass of water and a bowl of almonds in front of me on my work desk and continued working. I had just finished my meal and was waiting for the hunger pang to hit me. There I got the pang and before I reached out for the bowl of almonds, I grabbed the glass of water and gulped it down. Thereafter, I did not feel the need to eat the almonds.

What exactly happened? Let’s get into the science behind it. There’s a small little part in our brain called hypothalamus which controls hunger, thirst and many other bodily functions and behaviours. Because hunger and thirst are controlled by the same area of the brain, it so happens that thirst produces similar reaction in our body, as hunger does. Like for instance, we get those grumbling and growling noises in the stomach or may start feeling dizzy or low on energy. In all probability when we get the hunger feeling, we may not necessarily be hungry at all but that we’re actually thirsty! In fact, research shows that about 40% of people, mistake thirst with hunger.

This confusion causes many people to over eat and thus put on those extra kilos. Therefore, it’s very essential to react wisely to save yourself from the extra load of calories. The best way to clear the confusion is, when you feel the hunger pangs creeping in an hour after a meal, rather than breaking into some snacks, drink a glass of water and hold on for 15 minutes as it might take that much time for the hypothalamus to send a signal to let the nervous system know that the body was just thirsty and that the thirst has been quenched. You will then not feel the need to eat and the growling and grumbling noises or the feeling of dizziness and weakness will be totally shooed away. In this way, you can also cut down on unwanted food intake/or unnecessary snacking which then gets stored as fat. But, if after 15 minutes you still feel hungry, then you ought to eat as you may be actually hungry.

Another interesting trick is that if you stay hydrated through the day, you won’t even get trapped in this cue-confusion dilemma. Because you know you have already satiated your thirst and thus you can be sure that the signals that you are getting are surely for hunger.

I would say, you must try both the experiments and check which one works the best for you. You see it’s absolutely essential to differentiate between the two before we fall prey to over eating and weight gain.