Ms. Pretty Tyagi, CEO & Lead Health Coach, My22BMI
Food is necessary to provide us energy for our daily energy requirements, it also is a tool to uplift our mood when we are bored, saddened or celebrating. So, it becomes apparent that we humans don’t just eat to gain energy and suppress hunger, we also eat when are spending time with friends, we eat when we are watching a movie, we drink at social events, we eat when we plan a party or even when are just coping with our emotions and hormonal imbalances.
Doesn’t it become necessary for us to understand our eating requirements and arrange our kitchens with foods that will provide us energy and at the same time be healthy for us as well. Here is a list of 7 ways in which, one can keep fit while consuming delicacies cooked in the kitchen and consume as and when required to avoid unhealthy weight gain and fat accumulation-
Optimize the Use of Lime in Your Kitchen
Power up your diet with a lot of lemon based recipes. Lemons are excellent for cutting down on our weight gain by reducing fat accumulation. Lemons/ Limes are also natural diuretic which means that it helps in releasing all the excess water that may get retained in our body.
- Start your day by having a glass of Lemon water
- Include lemon in your salads, cooked vegetables, recipes and vegetable and fruits juices. Make sure every time you make a salad for yourself, optimize it with lime juice for better absorption of nutrients in the body.
- While cooking high fat curries and biryanis, add lime juice while cooking or drink some lime water before starting your meal. This helps in removing the excess fats from the foods consumed and releases the same for excretion.
- While choosing desserts to cook, start with lemon-based dessert recipes, such as lime tart, lime moist cake etc. This ensures a healthy digestion since most desserts are high calorie foods.
Lemons and Limes are a rich source of Vitamin C and helps in boosting our immunity. Vitamin C helps in absorption of the other nutrients present in our food.
Go For Low Calorie Delicious Meals
Yes! That is possible. My favorite low calorie food options are fish-based dishes, prawns, light soups, barley soup, Kulith soups, chickpea salad, beans salad, moong dal sprouts-based recipes. And all these are super delicious.
- Whenever you are planning your meal, try to keep the lighter meal options in the diet.
- Increase the meal times during the day. For example, instead of 3 big meals, go for 5-6 small, simple, and delicious meals. This will help in keeping your energy levels high and your body weight under control.
- Eating fish several times a week can encourage weight loss as well as improve insulin resistance. One reason: it is high in protein, which has been shown to induce satiety (a feeling of fullness that discourages overeating or snacking), boost metabolism and encourage weight loss. If you do not like fish, choose other sources of protein; legumes, eggs and pastured or grass-fed meat will have many of the same effects.
Include a Vinegar-based Pickle or Fermented Vegetables as a Part of Your Diet
- Have vinegar or lime based pickle or fermented vegetables along with your meal to boost your gut health and as a result remove the bad bacteria and toxins from your intestines, making your slimmer, your skin brighter and impacts your overall health and beauty. Examples of such pickles are vinegar dipped shallots, radish or chilies, carrot or beetroot kanji, fermented beans.
- To Stay fit in the kitchen, snack on healthy fruits in between your meals to accelerate weight loss.
- Most seasonal fruits are naturally occurring, power packed, antioxidants rich foods. They keep us fulfilled, nourished, slim and looking young always. Indulge in your daily intake of these berries, mangoes, Amla, peaches, plums, watermelons in any form to remain youthful, slim and disease free always.
Replace Refined Flour with More Complex Carbs such as Millet, Quinoa, Brown rice
While planning each meal, think about the carb that you are going to consume. It may not be the complex carb all the time in every meal but striking a right balance of healthy carbs which burn slow in digestion process and have a low glycemic index and glycemic load.
These whole grains are much healthier and low in calories than refined flours and white rice. These should be included in the diet as they are packed with powerful nutrients as well as energy giving good carbs. These are essentially low in glycemic Index and have a slow burning time and hence are ideal for people trying to lose weight and people suffering from diabetes as well.
