Don’t go on crash diets to shed the extra flab instantly. Here is a smart, sensible, steady nutrition plan to help you knock off the pounds and look and feel healthy and energetic. Shalan Savur prepares a wonder diet to help you lose weight and keep it off
An exercise physiologist once told me, “Never lose more than a pound per week.” It’s healthy for both body and mind. If you lose too fast, the body panics thinking it’s starving, so it slows down its metabolism. But one pound a week, it considers as “cool” and let’s go the fat willingly, even graciously. What I’ve learnt over the years is that it’s good to have any weight-loss plan simply because it makes you practise discipline and self-control. You learn to say “No.” You learn to detach yourself from your taste buds. For any diet to be successful, for you to be successful, you need friends and family to be tactfully supportive. So, request their cooperation. The well-meant and sometimes guilt-ridden “Have just one more piece!” or “Won’t you join me?” is the undoing of many an otherwise disciplined person. It’s also wise to take on some hobby, some activity that takes your mind away from food. If you spend about four hours on it without missing food, without getting hungry, it means you’ve found a life-long passion that is calorie-free! In the interim, take on small projects that keep the hands so busy that there’s no time to pick up a cookie and cram it in the mouth!
A special diet-plan that’s healthy and efficient
I emphasise healthy because too many women seem to have hormonal imbalance, are anaemic, lack vitamins B12 and D and so on. Understand why you need to eat what you may not be eating. Also, understand why you should not eat what you may be eating. When you think and understand, it becomes easier.
The healthy foods are:
Fibre: Ragi, jowar, bajra are great cereals loaded with fibre. If you don’t want to soak them, grind them coarsely in your mixer, then pressure-cook them like rice with water. They’re yummy even eaten plain, if you like bland stuff. In vegetables, ladies’ fingers and spinach are good fibre sources as are most fruits. Extra byte: Make sure you drink 1.5-2 litres of water daily too. Fibre + water ensures a complete, squeaky clean elimination where your tummy feels as flat as an ironing board and you feel on top of the world.
Iron: Apricot, banana, raisins, beetroot, fenugreek leaves, lettuce, onion, soyabean, spinach, almond, black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, honey.
Vitamin B12: Milk and milk products.
Vitamin C: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, strawberries, papaya.
Vitamin D: Dairy products, sunlight.
The best route to slimness is to eat a variety of foods to avoid deficiencies. Have a nice balanced mix of carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fluids. Get adequate sleep as well. When there’s freshness and a feeling of well-being, false hunger pangs don’t intrude. If they do, a dietician says, “Don’t use a bucketful when a glassful will quench the fire! If starved of carbs or sweets, have a small glass of orange juice, apple cider or three dates. The frantic craving will pass if you get busy meanwhile.”
(- The writer is co-author of the book ‘Fitness for Life’ and teacher of the Fitness for Life programme.)
