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LOSING WEIGHT, THE SMART WAY

Healthy Weight Loss

The key words involved in weight loss are ‘smart eating’ and ‘physical exercise’. Can you lose weight by just starving yourself? You surely can, but a rigorous, fad diet will leave you feeling sick and the weight will come back soon. Could you lose weight bust by rigorous exercise? The answer is yes, but it will take much longer.

The best way of reaching your ideal weight is to give up the obsession with losing weight and to get passionate about healthy living.

Setting weight loss goals

The reason people flounder when they set out to lose weight is that they do not set specific goals. They are vague about what is healthy weight loss or not realistic enough.

Set yourself achievable goals. If you have to lose 10 kg, give yourself three to six months to lose the first five kgs.. This will help you ease yourself into a healthy eating and exercising routine. A gradual loss of weight is more sustainable. If you want to lose half a kg per week, you need to cut 500 calories per day through both diet and exercise.

Healthy eating

Do not regard healthy eating as a terrible chore which will leave you starving. Healthy eating involves avoiding food that is harmful to you and switching to food that is good for you. Most importantly, eat small quantities frequently. This way you can eat most of your favorite foods.

Work out three days a week

This is not negotiable. If you do not exercise vigorously at least three days a week, you will find it hard to keep the weight off.

The rule of twos

Eat small quantities at short intervals. This will leave you feeling comfortable without feeling deprived.

Eat something soon after you wake up. In the morning, your blood sugar levels are very low. A fruit or a glass of milk will bring your sugar levels up. This way you will not be ravenously hungry when you eat breakfast.

Breakfast can be your usual idlis or dosas or whole wheat toast-but stop at two. If you are having upma, have two small katories.

Eat small quantities after that every two hours. It can be a handful of nuts, a cup of curds, a bowl of sprouts, bhelpuri made with just puffed rice, dry khakra, a chapathi with vegetables or egg, a cup of sundal, a slice of cheese, a handful of peanuts. The choices are there-you have to make an effort to look for them.

Lunch can be two small katories of rice with vegetables or dhal or sambhar.

Dinner can be one or two chapathis with a small cup of curds or vegetables or dhal.

Drink two glasses of water just before your main meals or along with them.

Confine yourself to two spoons of sugar per day. Do not indulge in soft drinks, sweets, chocolates and cakes.

Have your last meal two hours before you go to bed. Brushing your teeth soon after you have had the last meal for the day will prevent you from being tempted to have a bedtime snack.

The author Ms. Gita Arjun is an obstetrician and gynecologist practicing in Chennai and has written the book ‘Passport to a Healthy Pregnancy’.

www.passport2health.in

News courtesy: "THE HINDU"

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MYSORE PAK

Ingredients

Gram Flour 1 cup
Ghee 1 1/2 cups
Sugar 2 cups

Take a bottom thick kadai, add half of the ghee and gram flour into it. Fry till it comes to brown colour. Keep it aside. Take sugar in the same kadai and add sufficient water (1 cup). Boil it till the pearl consistency comes. Then add the fried gram flour into the sugar liquid. Add the balance ghee and stir it well. It becomes thick and comes without touching the sides of the pan. Pour into ghee coated plate and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Make diamond slices with a sharp edged knife.

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VERMICELLI PAKORA

Ingredients

Vermicelli 1 cup
Basin flour 2 table spoons
Rice flour 1 table spoon
Baked and smashed potato 1
Onion (cut lengthwise) 3
Green chili (cur lengthwise) 4
Ginger and garlic paste ½ tea spoon
Salt To taste
Mint leaves 2 table spoons
Cashew nut 2 table spoons
Coriander leaves (cut finely) 1 table spoon
Oil and ghee


Put ghee in a frying pan, fry vermicelli till it becomes golden brown in colour. Add little warm water and boil it. Then add cool water into it and filter it nicely. Add potato, green chili, onion etc to vermicelli. Make thick dough without water. Then deep fry the pakoras in oil. Serve hot with sauce or chutney.

TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients

Tomatoes 1 Kg
Onion 2 medium
Fresh Ginger 1 ½ “piece
Carrot 1 chopped finely
Beet root small piece
Salt, pepper and sugar

Dice onions, tomatoes into big pieces. Peel and chop ginger. Take all the chopped vegetables in a vessel and pour enough water to cover the pieces. Cook in medium flame till tomatoes become just tender or pressure cook till one whistle. Cool down thoroughly and discard beet root piece. Blend in mixer and then strain through broad eyed strainer to remove seeds and skin. If necessary dilute it with water and reheat with salt and sugar.

RAVA DOSAI

Ingredients:

Suji (Rava) 200 gms
Rice flour 200 gms
Maida 100 gms
Cumin seeds ½ tea spoon
Sour butter milk 100 gms
Green chili 1 cut into pieces
Salt To taste
Oil

Pour the buttermilk in a bowl. Add suji, maida, rice flour, cumin seeds, green chili and salt. Make the batter properly like the regular doasi batter. Keep it for 30 minutes. Heat a tawa (dosaikkal), pour a little oil in it and spread evenly. Take one measure of the batter and start pouring from the corners of the tawa in a round shape and finish in the centre. We cannot spread the batter like regular dosai batter. Put oil in the corners of the doasi. Turn the dosai to the other side. It will be crispy. Serve hot with chili powder, onion chutney.

We can add sliced onions to the batter and prepare onion rava dosai.

வெண் PONGAL

Ingredients

Raw rice 200 Gms
Green dhal 50 Gms
Pepper ½ tea spoon
Cumin seeds ½ tea spoon
Ginger 1 piece finely cut
Cashew nuts 5
Ghee 50 Gms
Curry leases
Salt

Wash rice and green dhal nicely and pressure cook with 800 Gms water. Add salt. Stir it well. Put ghee in a pan, add pepper, cumin seeds, ginger pieces, curry leaves and cashew nuts. Fry it well. Put the fried items into cooked pongal and stir it well. Serve hot with chutney or gotsu.

MASIYAL

Ingredients

Tur Dhal 50 gms
Mustard seeds ¼ tea spoon
Sambar podi 1 table spoon
Fenugreek ½ tea spoon
Red chili 3
Green chili 3
Tamarind 1 lemon size
Salt To taste
Curry leaves

Banana Flower, yam, chow chow, methi and greens can be used for this masiyal.

Cook dhal and vegetable separately. Make 200 gms of tamarind water, add salt, curry leaves and sambar podi. Boil it for 10 minutes. Season it with mustard seeds, red chili, asafetida, fenugreek one spoon tur dhal and finally add green chili. Put all the seasonings in to the boiling tamarind water. Then smash the dhal and vegetables and add to the boiled tamarind water. Allow it to boil for 2 more minutes. Serve hot.

MAIDA CURD BONDA

Ingredients

Maida flour 2 cups
Sour curd 1 cup
Baking powder (cooking) 1 pinch
Cumin seeds 2 tea spoons
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Green chili 2
Salt To taste
Oil


Take Maida; add salt, cumin seeds, green chilies, baking powder, and asafetida. Mix it well slowly with sour curd and make a bonda paste. In a frying pan, pour oil. With a little flame, make small bondas and deep fry it. Serve with chutney.

VEGETABLE BIRIYANI

Ingredients

Basmati Rice 2 cups
Sliced onion 2
Tomato Gravy 1 cup
Vegetables
(Sliced carrot, Potato, Beans,
Peas, Cauliflower) 2 cups
Ghee 5 Table spoon
Turmeric Powder 1 pinch
Briyani leaves 2
Mint and coriander leaves ¼ cup each
Salt To taste

To grind

Red chili 5
Green chili 2
Cardamom 2
Clove 2
Cinnamon 1 small piece
Ginger 1 small piece
Garlic 6 small pieces
Cashew 15

Soak rice in water and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Grind the ingredients. In a pressure cooker, add ghee and fry briyani leaves. Then add sliced onion and ground paste, tomato gravy and turmeric powder. Fry well. Then add the vegetable mix. Put the soaked rice with 4 cups of water. While the rice baked for 3/4th then add mint and coriander leaves and stir it well. Then leave the flame and close the lid. Keep it for 7 minutes. Serve with raitha.

கட் பாசக் ஒன தி FAT

Regardless of what anyone tells you, I am going to tell you one thing. Fat makes you fat. It is as simple as that. Fat is loaded with calories and you can only lose weight if your calorie ‘input’, which is your food consumption, is less than your calorie ‘output’-which is the calories you burn off through the day. I know how hard it is to cut out the fried stuff, in a weak moment that fried jalebi looks like it is begging to be consumed. Or a pack of chips seems like the answer to life’s problems. Believe me when I say it is simply not worth it. Tell yourself you could consume a delicious, sweet juicy fruit and be just as happy.

Whenever you pass up the medu vada for the idli, congratulate yourself. Once you make the effort, you will find it becomes easier to spurn the samosas and ditch the desserts. Go busy yourself a trendy accessory. Try out a new perfume. These little things work as huge morale boosters, because not only did you say no to fat, you did something special for yourself. As we get further into this chapter, you will fully understand why fat is the single most important factor that leads to a dieter’s downfall.

One gram of fat equals 9 calories. One gram of carbohydrates or one gram of proteins equals 4 calories.

As you can see, compared to proteins and carbohydrates, fats contain more than double the calories-it is obvious why dieters must severely restrict their fat intake. Limiting fat in the diet automatically brings down over call calorie consumption.

Visible fats such as oil, butter, ghee and margarine are easily identified. But there are hidden fats present in almost all foods, in varying amounts. For example, cheese could have milk fat up to 70%. Oily fish such as tuna or sardines also have a high fat content. Even certain fruits, such as avocado for example, are high in fat.

While some amount of fat is required in your diet, it has to be kept to a minimum. In fact, dieters should cut their fat consumption to roughly 15% of their daily calorie intake.

What happens when supply exceeds demand?

If you put extra petrol in a car with a full tank, the tank overflows. In the same way,
Once your body has had its daily requirement of, let us say, 1,700 calories, and you insist on stuffing 2,000 calories, the extra 300 calories “overflow”. This overflow turns into fat and is stored in your fat cells. However, if more and more fat keeps coming in, the cells are forced to expand. There comes a point when the cells expand so much, they can no longer store any more fat, so they multiply, to make room for all the additional fat that is coming in.

When fat intake is reduced, fat cells shrink in size. But once fat cells have been formed, the number of fat cells does not decrease.

ARE ALL TYPES OF OILS AND FATS EQUAL AS FAR AS CALORIES ARE CONCERNED?

Yes. Every type of oil-groundnut, sunflower, mustard, olive, sesame, or any other-all contain 9 calories per gram. Butter and ghee also add up to 9 calories per gram. If you want to lose weight, it is crucial to limit your daily consumption of fats.

WHAT ARE GOOD FATS AND BAD FATS? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Examples of good fats are mono unsaturated fats such as olive, peanut and canola oil. Polyunsaturated fats from plant sources such as corn and sunflower are also considered beneficial. These are considered good fats because, when consumed in small quantities, they reduce blood cholesterol and protect against heart disease.

However, ayurveda encourages the consumption of ghee. In India traditional cooking methods make use of ghee, butter and locally available cooking oil.

MYTH: Fats should be eliminated from the diet.

FACT: Limit but do not eliminate fats. Fat is required by the body in small amounts. It is the most misunderstood of all essential nutrients. Fats are needed by the body cells. Provide energy, preserve body heat and protect the organs from damage. Vitamins A, D, E and K are dissolved in fat, and fat is needed for their absorption.

FAT FILE

Did you know, even with a reduced fat supply, your fat cells never disappear? They merely shrink as the fat is depleted, and will expand again if the fat supply increases!

The writer is a certified Clinical Exercise Specialist, Lifestyle and Weight Management Specialist.

This article was read from a daily news paper and published for the use of dieters.

IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia. About 20% of women, 50% of pregnant women and 3% of men are iron-deficient.

WHAT IS IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA?

Iron is pressed in all cells of the body and plays a key role in improving the quality of blood; it assists in the formation of hemoglobin and increases resistance to stress and disease.

Iron deficiency anemia occurs when there is less iron in the body and can result in symptoms such as fatigue, headache, weakness, pale skin, dizziness, irritability and lack of concentration.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES?

• Common causes are inadequate consumption of iron or inability to absorb iron from the diet, blood loss, either from disease or injury.
• Low consumption of iron-rich foods.
• Excessive dieting.
• Increased iron loss due to menstruation.
• Deceased iron absorption.
• Increased demand for iron-women who are pregnant or who are breast-feeding may need 2 and ½ times as much as the recommended daily allowance of iron.

IRON IS NECESSARY FOR:

• Energy production.
• Essential for many enzymes.
• Important for growth.
• Production of hemoglobin.

HOW MUCH IRON SHOULD BE CONSUMED DAILY?

The recommended daily allowance of iron for women is 18 mg and for men is 8 mg. However, iron-needs vary based on individual lifestyles and specific conditions.

HOW IS ANEMIA TREATED?

It depends on what’s causing the anemia. For example, if anemia results from losing too much blood, the cause of the blood loss will need to be treated. If anemia results from a diet that’s low in iron, your doctor may recommend a change in your diet or prescribe iron supplements.

IRON-RICH FOODS

Absorption of iron from food is influenced by multiple factor. One important factor is the form of the iron consume. Heme iron, found in animal sources, is well absorbed by the body; whereas non-heme iron, found in vegetable sources, is relatively less absorbed.

HEME IRON SOURCES.

Clams
Pork Liver
Oysters
Meat
Fish
Chicken

NON- HEME IRON SOURCES

Leafy greens/broccoli
Legumes
Fortified cereals
Prunes, raisins, apricots
Watermelon

The writer is a certified Clinical Exercise Specialist, Lifestyle and Weight Management Specialist.

This information is gathered from a health news paper.

LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL LEVEL

Cholesterol is important for good health. But too much of it can lead to heart disease.

THE CHOLESTEROL LEVEL in the body is determined partly by genetics, lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise and even psychological stress. High cholesterol build-up can occur gradually over time without causing any symptoms.

WHAT IS CHOLESTEROL?

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy fat found in the bloodstream. It’s an important component of good health because it’s used to make cell membranes and certain hormones. But too much cholesterol in the blood results in hypercholesterolemia- a major risk factor for coronary disease.

• Reduce total fat and cholesterol from your diet.
• Eat more foods rich in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
• Eat no more than six ounces of mean meat, fish and poultry per day.
• Consume skim-milk and low-fat dairy products.
• Increase your level of physical activity (walk at least 45-minute daily).
• Maintain a healthy body weight.
• Find ways to de-stress.

The writer is a certified Clinical Exercise Specialist, Lifestyle and Weight Management Specialist.

This valuable information is gathered from daily news paper.

LEMON RASAM

Tur Dhal 50 gms
Salt To taste
Rasam Powder 1 Table spoon
Tomato 1
Lemon 1 small
Mustard seeds ¼ tea spoon
Asafetida 1 small piece
Coriander seeds ¼ tea spoon
Pepper ¼ tea spoon
Jeera ¼ tea spoon
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

Cook tur dhal nicely with 100gms of water. Cut tomatoes into pieces and add 200 Gms of water. Add rasam powder, salt, asafetida and boil it for 5 minutes. Then add the cooked tur dhal and enough water. Fry coriander seeds and pepper without oil. Powder the coriander seeds, pepper and jeera. Add the powder into the rasam, we made it ready.
Season it with mustard seeds fried in ghee and garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves. Squeeze the lemon and the juice should be added to the rasam after the boiling was over.

CAULIFLOWER CUTLET

Ingredients

Cauliflower 1
Potato 250 gms
Big Onion 2
Ani seeds 1 tea spoon
Garlic ginger paste 1 tea spoon
Garam masala powder 1 tea spoon
Chili powder 1 tea spoon
Dhania (Coriander seeds) Powder 1 tea spoon
Turmeric powder ½ tea spoon
Jeera ½ tea spoon
Green chili 1
Bread or Rusk powder ½ cup
Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Put cauliflower in hot water, pick the flowers and add salt, keep aside for 30 minutes. Then cut into pieces. Boil potato, peel and smash it well. In a frying pan, pour oil, add aniseeds, garlic ginger paste, finely sliced onion, green chili and fry it nicely. Add turmeric powder, dhania powder, masala powder and chili powder. Then add the cauliflower pieces. Add water. After 5 minutes put smashed potatoes, corianders leaves and curry leaves. Stir it well and make a fine mixture of all. Prepare balls out of the mixture and dip the balls in bread powder. In a tava or frying pan put oil and fry the cutlets into reddish brown in colour. Serve hot with sauce.

MINT (PUDINA) CHAPPATTI

Ingredients

Wheat flour 2 cups
Mint leaves (finely cut) 1 cup
Green chili (cut into small pieces) 1 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Oil

In a frying pan, put oil and add green chili and mint leaves. Fry it for 2 minutes and allow it to cool. Take wheat flour; add salt, oil and the mint mix into it. Mix well. Make fine dough. Prepare chapattis. Serve hot.

POTTUKKADALAI URUNDAI (ROASTED GRAM BALLS)

Ingredients

Roasted gram 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Ghee 25 gm
Cardamom powder ½ tea spoon

Fry the roasted gram slightly without oil. In a strong bottomed pan, put sugar and a little water. Boil till 2 string consistency paagu (liquid paste) comes. Add roasted gram and cardamom powder in to the paagu. With slightly melted ghee, make balls with the roasted gram and sugar mixture. Allow it to cool.