Dt. Varsha

Festivals without sweets are unheard of in India. Think of Diwali and you’re sure to conjure visions of ‘mithai’, dried fruits and ‘laddus’. These sweetmeats are rich not only in taste, but also in calories. This makes festival food a big problem for weight management. Thankfully, there are ways to have a sweet celebration without putting on excess weight.

Here are a few tips.

1. Eat in moderation: It is impossible to completely avoid sweets during this festive season. However, you can keep a check on the amount you eat. Limit yourself to one or two pieces of mithai instead of gorging on them. Avoid second helping of sweets at all costs.
2. Pick your sweets carefully: Not all sweets have the same calorific value. Sweets that are deep fried such as gulab jamuns have a higher calorific value than rasgullas. Similarly homemade sweets are usually much lower in fat content than store bought ones. If you are making sweets at home, try replacing the sugar with jaggery to lower the fat content. Eating dry fruits over sweets can also help minimize your calorie intake.
3. Do not skip your meals: Eating heavy sweets may make you want to skip your regular meals, but this is a terrible idea. Do not miss out on your regular servings of fruits, vegetables and carbs. Do not replace your normal meals with snacks and dried fruits. If necessary, lower your portion size and have a light soup for dinner instead of your regular meal.
4. Avoid sweet drinks: Since you cannot avoid eating sugar, skip drinking sugar. Avoid sweetened drinks such as colas and processed juices. Instead, pick light drinks such as buttermilk, lemonade and jaljeera. Green tea is also a good option during Diwali. If possible, avoid alcohol.
5. Stay hydrated: When eating such rich and heavy food, it is important to drink plenty of water through the day. This keeps the body hydrated and helps flush toxins from the body. Drinking water also reduces the urge to snack and can help keep a control over your food intake.
6. Eat mindfully: Chew your food and mithai slowly while eating. This will ensure that you thoroughly enjoy it and will keep you satiated for longer. Avoid eating on the go. Mindful eating also reduces the urge to snack excessively and hence controls your food intake.
7. Exercise: Do not make Diwali an excuse to not exercise. Set aside half an hour at the beginning of the day to exercise and kick start your metabolism. Breathing exercises such as Pranayam and anulom vilom can also help clear your respiratory passages and help prevent problems sue to the pollutants in the air.

With information being bombarded at us from every side, it often becomes difficult to sift through myths and facts. Indigestion is something many people commonly suffer from and probiotics have become an increasingly popular way to treat this condition. Like everything else probiotics are surrounded by a number of myths and misconceptions. Here are the top 3 myths you shouldn’t fall for when talking about probiotics.

Only people with digestion issues need probiotics
We think of probiotics only when suffering from indigestion and stomach upset, but probiotics do much more than cure the occasional stomach cramp. Probiotics can improve a person’s overall health by reducing sugar cravings and strengthening the immune system. It also helps improve the quality of sleep and boosts energy levels. Regular intake of probiotic supplements has also proven to be beneficial for weight loss. By aiding the digestion process, probiotics also help rid the body of toxins and thus, promote clear and healthy skin. These supplements are especially useful when unwell and should be taken along with antibiotics to fight off possible indigestion that may occur as a side effect of the medication.

All probiotics are the same
Walk into a supermarket and you’re bound to see at least half a dozen different types of probiotics. Probiotics can be had in many forms ranging from yogurt to probiotics supplements. Even if you consume yogurt on a daily basis, it may be a good idea to supplement your meals with a probiotic in cases of chronic indigestion. However, not all probiotics are the same. Probiotics vary in terms of potency and the strain of bacteria they concentrate on. Some of these supplements need to be refrigerated while others do not. However, the method of preservation does not affect the efficacy of the supplement. Also, the same probiotics may affect two people in different ways. This is because there are millions of potential combinations for gut flora. Hence, it is important to find a probiotic that works well for you.

Probiotic – prebiotic – they’re the same thing!
Probiotics and prebiotics both work to improve digestion, but the difference between them is more than a single alphabet. While probiotics refer to the bacteria itself that will multiply in your gut and aid in digestion, prebiotics contains fibre and starche that will nourish bacteria and help gut bacteria flourish. Thus, in a way, prebiotics ‘fertilize’ probiotics. Unlike probiotics that are affected by temperature changes and gradually expelled from the body, prebiotics are not destroyed in the body. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a doctor.

‘Health is wealth’ is one of the most common lines we have heard, but most of us fail to take it seriously. We tend to ignore our health a lot, but we are very cared about our looks, but we fail to realize that health is closely related to looks, strange isn’t it? We often try out chemical filled make up to look good, but looking good is closely related to feeling good, isn’t it?

We tend to work out for hours together in the gym but the moment we come home, we are too tired to clean our own house. All these puzzles of life continue to keep coming into my brain and today I have made a vain attempt to answer these questions.

I remember reading in the newspaper the other day that an ordinary women who does all the work at home is much fitter than those who spend hours in the gym.

Well you might scoff at this statement but let me tell you one thing that, housework is the best exercise. When you broom your house, you bend, walk, move your body in every angle to get the dust out of your home and that itself is a great exercise. Well instead of wasting money at the gym, paying money to your maid and then haggling with her every day, cleaning and moping your house yourself is a much better option.

Instead of using all those chemical loaded make up it is better if you use some natural stuff like multani mitti, orange peel, turmeric, malai, etc. which will be much better as they will not damage your skin in any way, they have no side effects and the best part is that results are guaranteed.

Another thing is that we are constantly trying to dress up and look good, but we fail to realize that people who actually love us will love the way we are and the people who hate us will continue hating us. If you feel fantastic and comfortable in flip-flops than killer heals, then wear flip-flops. Why strain yourself unnecessarily to please others and show off? If you cannot be comfortable in your own skin, then I think you have some serious self-esteem issues.

And eat what you like, I believe that my lover should love me for what I am rather than how good I look. If he does not love me for what I am, then his love is merely infatuation and probably I am going to get my heart broken one day, because his love was not true.

Hence, these are some of my answers tell me your views too.