The other day, I went for lunch buffet to Global
Fusion with my cousins, I noticed that they did not visit the salad station at
all, instead ordered steamed and stir-fried dishes.
With too many pesticides used during growing
vegetables, it is becoming more dangerous to eat raw vegetables. Yet, when I
went to this fitness chat with dietician Namita Jain, (I was invited by Nature
Basket to attend her session on ‘Healthy Eating for Healthy Living) she started the session with Pomegranate
salad using all the raw vegetables such as spring onions, carrots, capsicum,
cauliflower and garnishing with grated ginger, lime juice, dates and salt.
It tasted good. It had no high cholesterol dressing
like Mayonnaise or creams, but still I was hesitatant since all the veggies
were raw. Were they washed? How many hours before the session were they
chopped? I was not sure about that.
While we munched on the salads and orange juice, Namita started to discuss the 5-point program for staying fit.
Point I:
Calories In equals Calories Out
First point to remember is that there has to be a
balance between calories that we take in and calories burnt out. If the balance
is not maintained then excess of undigested food is converted to fat.
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Always eat light and exercise to burn the calories.
Calories are basically the energy in food, it is
not possible to calculate every single calorie that enters our body, but it helps to
remember that larger portions have more calories. So the easiest way is to eat
smaller portions, fewer snacks and healthy meals. It is much easier for body to
extract nutrients from cooked food than from raw food. For raw food you need to
chew the food properly in order to digest it.
Burning calories is not just jogging or spinning on
a wheel, they include other activities too. Almost all the activities that we
do during the day- time burn up calories. For example, cooking for an hour
burns 140 calories, taking care of elders uses 232 calories, gardening burns
298 calories, even playing cards/board games burns calories.
Point 2: Always
have a square meal.
Every square meal must contain carbohydrates, fat,
proteins and cereals. Actually our Indian Thali is such that it verifies the
concept of a square meal. There are three types of calories that we take,
active, semiactive and couch-potato calories.
Active
calories are found in lean meat, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, whole
grains, beans and legumes.
Semi-active
calories are in fiber rich cereals, whole-grain, low-far dairy, soups.
Couch
potato calories from pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, fatty
processed meats, chips, pretzels, snack food, greasy fast food.
However, too much of anything is bad and undigested
food is converted to fat. The built up of fat in the arteries can narrow the
blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure. But too little is not good
either. Our body needs enough calories to give nourishment; or we will feel
tired all the time. On an average it is important to have more than 1200
calories per day.
During my last visit to Hong Kong, I had noticed
that Chinese ate several times a day and yet remained slim. I realized that it’s
not how many times you eat but what you chose to eat determines our weight. Research
shows that frequent meals prevent a high influx of fatty acids that contribute
to high cholesterol level.
The
second demo dish ‘Multi-grain Tortilla wrap’ was prepared and passed around. The
stuffing consisted of crumbled cheese, green onions, coriander leaves, chat
masala and chili powder. It was quite dry, even though I had it with
tomato salsa.
Point 3: Indulgence
and compensation.
There are times when we go for parties and we tend
to overeat at the buffet tables. In such times it is important to compensate
the next day by eating less. Actually it is important to detox once a week and
maintain good eating habits. For detox you could have soups, steamed
vegetables, fruits, milk and citrus fruits.
Point 4: Stop
before you are full and eat before you are hungry.
Eating too much can lead to acidity and
indigestion. Body needs fuel every 3-4 hours. You could eat small snack in
between meals like apple, grams, or cracker so that you are not starved during
the lunch hour.
Point 5: Self
belief.
Mind is powerful; it can be trained to think positive
for positive results. People don’t succeed because they believe that they
cannot.
Banana
nut spread was being prepared at the cooking station while she informed us
about staying fit. Her assistant mixed the mashed banana with raisins, chopped dates
and chopped nuts and served on cracker.
There were question–answer
session after her talk, there was lots of interaction. The room had full
attendance of about 100 people.
Women complained that the media and ads publicized
the product too much, causing too much confusion and sometimes had adverse
effect on their health.
Namita Jain counseled that the new product be tried
in small quantities before including it in the regular diet because it may
agree with some and with others it might not.
To stay fit, she advised that water is very
important for our system and must be consumed at least 3 liters a day. One must eat light
food at the later half of the day because detoxification takes place in the
night.
Exercise is important because it helps reduce bad
cholesterol. It is not advisable to go for walks immediately after eating. If
you get tired after exercise then you are not doing it right. Many youngsters
are overdoing it resulting in fatigue. She said that instead of taking advise
from gym instructor, it is better to consult doctors before taking any
steroids.
On being asked what suitable oil to be used in
cooking, she advised that any unrefined oil can be used and brand of the oil
can be changed frequently.
There was nothing new that we learnt from these talk/demo
sessions, but it was worthwhile to attend it to refresh our knowledge and
re-adapt to live the healthy way.
Came home with a damage of 3k to my pocket because
although the demo is free, the bottles on the shelf are not, it is difficult to
resist the grocery shopping when the food is all around you.
