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Mind It: Eat slowly, do not gobble down

mindful eating

I had just about done with my daily routine of a brisk walk in a park. And, I hear some noises- what is it that I hear…it was my stomach growling. Sending me hunger cues and reminding me that I should be eating something. And, yes I was so hungry that I could probably eat a horse.

I quickly walked up to the nearest café to grab some snacks so I could calm down my growling stomach. While I was awaiting my order, I started to look around the café. One of the best things to while you are alone in a café is to observe others sitting there.  What do I see?

I see this young man eating at breakneck speed. Probably he was in a hurry to just grab some food and rush out to work. While he was eating a break neck speed he was also fidgeting with his phone. Ain’t we all good at multitasking of this nature? As he was eating he also managed to engage himself in few calls. If he could do that to me it came across as he wasn’t in such a hurry as it seemed! Then I thought to myself why would somebody be eating at such a speed? Probably, just a habit I thought to myself!

This is true though. There are many people whom I know have developed these fast eating habits. They are most often in a hurry to get over and done with their food to get away from the table. Most often one develops these habits during childhood and it continues through your adulthood.

But, let me tell you that gobbling down the food quickly without realizing what just went in, does no good to your body. In fact, eating too fast could nearly double your risk of being overweight or obese. A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that women aged 40-50 years who eat the quickest are more likely to be obese than slow eaters.

Once you start eating, it takes about 20 minutes for the “stop eating” signal to reach your brain. Fast eating overrides the mechanism of stimulating the satiety center in the brain. Thus, if you eat too quickly or say within 20 minutes, you tend to overfill your stomach and overeat, paving way for overweight and obesity and other related disorders.

Rather than thinking about food in terms of number of calories and nutrients, it would be more beneficial if you eat it mindfully. Eating slowly, chewing the food thoroughly, and savoring every bite of it are some important aspects of Mindful eating which contribute to your health in several ways.

Digestion: chewing well promotes the release of salivary enzymes in the mouth which in turn start off the digestion process, thus making your further digestion smoother and simple. Hence it is said that slower you eat, the faster and more efficiently you metabolize the food.

Portion control leading to weight control: Portion control is easily achieved when you slowdown your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when you stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease  and overweight is relatively low in France. It is well documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating therefore works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

Taste and Enjoying: Eating sensibly also involves relishing your food thoroughly by feeling the flavour on your palate. Sensible eating lets you experience the textures and the aroma of the food overall, making it a wonderful experience focused more on the impression and less on the health effects of eating.

In an age which is clouded by distractions, sensible or mindful eating gets difficult for many. It requires a conscious effort on an individual’s part to make sure that he or she is eating in an environment which is less distractive. To enable yourself eat mindfully, ensure that you are away from the television, mobile phones and other devices so that the focus is completely drawn towards eating. You can have some soft music playing in the background to make the eating experience more delightful.

When you eat, JUST EAT! Be mindful and Stay Healthy.

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Your Stair-case can be your gym!

Stair-case is the best saviour when it comes to missing workouts due to time constraints/busy schedule/no access to gym and all possible reasons for not working out (of course, pains and injuries are an exception).

Climbing up the stairs has many incredible advantages. It not only helps burn fat, but also strengthens the core and the lower body muscles along with improving stamina and endurance. Check out the detailed benefits in Master Coach Luke Coutinho’s blog- https://goqii.com/blog/stair-climbing-one-of-the-best-exercises/.

To make the stair workout adventurous and to prevent any possible chances of monotony, we can bring about certain variations and create a whole set of workouts on a staircase. All you need is just enough stairs on which you can run continuously for 10 to 15 seconds.

Check out these 10 staircase workouts to multiply the benefits of a regular stair-climbing workout:

1) Stair jog:

Stair jog

* Jog up the stairs but on descending walk to avoid falls

* To make it advanced, you can take 2 steps at a time

* Continue for minimum 5 minutes

2) Stair sprint:

Stair-Sprinting

* Sprint as fast as you can

* Make sure you take just one step at a time

* Breathe deeper while you sprint

3) Step ups:

step-up

 

* Step ups are simple, like you usually do on the stepper. But, doing it on a stair-case requires an extra effort.

* Make sure your knee doesn’t cross the toe. Apply maximum pressure on your heels to avoid any pressure on the knee.

* If you have no prominent knee pain, you can speed up a bit.

* Alternate the feet while you complete minimum 30 step ups.

4) Side step ups:

Step-Down.xlarger

* This includes stepping up and stepping down sideways

* Complete minimum 30 step ups- 15 with right foot and the rest 15 with left foot

 

5) Stair lunges:

Stair lunges

* Lunges are a great way to strengthen your quadriceps, gluteus, lower back and core

* You can either take one step or 2 steps for each lunge

* Do the stable lunges first and then try out the jump lunges alternating the left and the right foot. This is fun, I tell you!

6) Tricep dips:

Tricep-Dips

* These help to strengthen the triceps and anterior deltoid (front part of the shoulder)

* All you have to do is, sit on the edge of the first or second step with your arms shoulder width apart. Keep your legs straight on the floor.Take your bottom up by pressing your palms against the step and then lower down your rear until your arms are at about a 90 degree angle. Continue with the up-down movement.

7) Double leg stair hops:

Double leg stair hops

* Jump up on stairs with both the feet together.

* You can either keep your feet shoulder-width apart or keep both the feet together and hop. Maintain soft knees (slightly bent knees) and swing your arms backwards. Hop up the stairs and then come down walking.

8) Single leg hops:

Single leg hops

* To add a twist to the hops, we can do it on one leg and make it more challenging

* This is going to engage your core big time as it works harder to stabilize the body

* Go one whole flight on your left foot, and then switch onto your right foot and perform the full flight

9) Incline push-ups:

Incline push ups

 

* Incline push-ups help strengthen your chest, anterior deltoid and triceps too.

* Keep both the hands shoulder width apart on the step and extend your legs out. Maintain a straight back and feet close together and push push push!!

10) Skater steps:

skater-steps

 

* Keep your left foot on the left corner of the second step.Climb up with your right leg, bringing it to the right corner of the 4th step. You skate through the stairs this way taking two steps at a time. Swing your arms and skate your way through this leg burner.

These 10 workouts form a whole set of workouts that train your upper and lower body both. Guess what? You have just turned a stair-case into a gym. You can perform a high intensity interval workout (HIIT) too using these stair exercises.

Pick any 4 or 5 exercises, perform each exercise for 20 seconds with a 10 seconds break in between and repeat the entire cycle once again. Believe me, you end up burning more calories in these few minutes than what you would have burnt in 1 hour of gyming.

Safety first! If you suffer from any knee/ankle pain, please avoid the exercises that involve these specific joints.

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2 Minutes Healthy Snacks

 

healthy-snacking

When our mothers are out of town, when our workload is eating up most of our time, when studies are a priority and cooking finds less or no time at all, what do you do? You look out for some simple snacking options that can be prepared quickly and also satiate our hunger pangs.

When we talk of quick 2 minutes snacks, all that we can think of is the ready-to-eat processed foods. These are good when it comes to saving time but, little do we realize that they load us up with innumerable toxins in the form colours, flavours and preservatives. Of course their effects are not immediate but, they linger in our blood, reach our organs and initiate the degenerative process. Terrifying, isn’t it?

It’s time we make some healthier choices and protect our body from the distress that we have been exposing it to. We need to have some healthy alternatives to these ready-to-eat processed snacks. To feed this thought, I have penned down the top five 2 minutes snacks that would please your taste buds, satiate your hunger cues and save your time too!

Check out the super snacking options-

* Carrot Roast:

Slit the carrots and saute them in 1 tbsp Oil (olive oil would be a best choice). Add a few garlic cloves and season it with black pepper, oregano, red chilli powder and other seasonings of your choice. Your Beta-carotene rich Carrot Roast is ready to serve.

* Tempered Makhanas/Wheat puffs:

Makhanas (fox nuts) or wheat puffs are easily available in the market. Keep a stack of these ready at your place, so that you can grab a few, temper them and do the crunchy-munchy! As an add on, you can top it with chopped onion-tomato and squeeze a lemon to give it a tangy touch.

* Fruity-nutty yoghurt:

Chop your favourite fruits into small pieces, crush a few nuts (almonds/walnuts/pistachios/peanuts) and mix them in a cup of chilled yoghurt. Sprinkle some oregano or black pepper and enjoy this divine combo!

* Egg-o-Mania:

Make a scrambled egg, spread it on a slice of toasted whole wheat bread smeared with low fat cheese and garnish it with oregano/mixed herbs and black pepper. Being a perfect protein packed dish, it serves as a great post workout option. You can make this with one whole egg (with yolk). Yolk is rich in iron, vitamin A, B complex vitamins and amino acids too. We need not avoid it unless the person has high Triglycerides.

* Oats smoothie:

Blend half a cup of chilled yoghurt with half a cup of your favourite fruits, add 1 tbsp plain Oats and 4-5 pieces of walnut halves. Blend till smooth. You can add 1 tsp raw organic honey if you need it to be sweeter. It tastes better when served with mango, strawberries and fresh figs.

Easy, ain’t they? Some of these snacks can even be prepared on a long trek.

So you see, we need not rely on the ready-to-eat processed foods when we run short of time.

Enjoy these healthy ‘lip-smacking’ quick snacks and stay at your healthier best!

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Should we brisk walk before the meal or after?

people_walking

As an adolescent, I was a victim of this common misconception that brisk walking immediately post meal helps burn calories. It’s quite natural to think that once we eat a meal and walk it out quickly, it will burn the calories that we just consumed. But hey! For that food to get converted into calories it requires a long process, which is called nothing but digestion. Unless and until we don’t let the food to get digested thoroughly, are we going to burn the calories? Obviously not!

Brisk walking post meal is a not a very good idea. It may cause acid reflux, ingestion or stomach upset. The reason is very simple- after the meal, our digestion process is all ready to go. Digestive juices are released in the stomach and intestine. This is the time when the stomach and intestine need most blood supply to carry on this process smoothly. Hence, the blood flow needs to be directed to this area for better digestion. If we perform any vigorous activity as simple as brisk walking after the meal, the blood circulation gets directed to our extremities which compromises the blood flow to the core region of the body, thus hampering the digestive processes.

Working out especially post dinner not only affects our digestion but may also postpone our sleep time. Workouts are a stress buster. Our body experiences an endorphin rush (feel good factor) after a nice cardio/strengthening session. Once we are on an endorphin high, we feel extremely elated and energized which tends to delay our sleep.

So what’s best for us? It’s always best to go for a brisk walk or any other workout before the meal (30 minutes prior or so). It exhausts our body’s energy stores which is then all set to fill up the stores again with a good meal. This reduces the chances of fat conversion during the meal as whatever we consume is utilized by the body cells for energy which leaves least for fat storage. In short, a pre meal workout fires up our body’s metabolism which therefore ensures better burn up of calories after we consume and digest the meal.

A similar point was proven by a 2006 study published in “Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism,” which says that people who walked prior to putting any food in their stomach and who walked hard enough to perspire burnt more fat than those who walked after eating.

Thus, it’s quite clear that in order to reap most benefits of brisk walking or other workouts, we need to schedule it prior to our meal. However, we can certainly go for a leisurely walk post meal, but again, not immediately. We can go after a 45 minutes gap. That is just to get over the bloat of eating way too much or to give your muscles a good stretch and it’s anytime a better option than promoting fat deposition by lying on the sofa watching TV. But remember, this should be a short 10-15 minute walk and not a long one.

Now that we have blown away the misconceptions, let’s implement the right thing and experience the change! Let’s Rock the pre-meal walk!

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