Junk food is food containing high levels of calories from sugar or fat and has little “nutritional value”. It primarily contains excessive fat, sugar, salt, and calories. Frequent consumption of junk increases the intake of excess fat, simple carbohydrates, and processed sugar.
Junk food cravings are very common. These cravings can become your worst enemy when you are on a Healthy Life/ weight loss journey. Junk food cravings can turn into binges and may increase the risk of weight gain/ Lifestyle Problem.
Here are some helpful tips to help curb your cravings for junk food.
Have small meals in short intervals
Eat regularly and avoid long periods of hunger. Cravings do not arise when the stomach is full. So, avoid skipping meals. The best is to start your day with a healthy breakfast and follow up with a nutritious lunch and dinner. Keep healthy snacks close at hand.
Consume more proteins
High protein diets aids in weight loss. Protein can make to feel full for longer and allow your body to consume lesser calories. Protein-rich foods will leave less space for junk and avoid experiencing cravings. Have a protein-rich meal the first thing in the day for healthy life.
Eat healthy fats
Fats do not make you fat. There are many different types of fats. Out of which, trans fats and saturated fats are considered unhealthy fats. On the contrary, heart-healthy fats help you feel full and reduce cravings.
Stay hydrated
Thirst can also lead to cravings. Drinking a glass of water when you feel like eating junk may suffice the craving, and at the same time, provide other health benefits. If plain water sounds boring, enjoy it by adding a slice of lime, lemon or cucumber.
Related read: Importance of water in our diet
Sleep well
Sleep deprivation tends to increase calories intake. Not getting enough sleep can lead to increased cravings for junk food and weight gain. Lack of sound sleep can lead to poor appetite regulation and cravings. When you have slept adequately, it becomes easier to fight cravings.
Stay away from stress
Stress influences your eating behaviour and can induce junk cravings. People, who are stressed, tend to eat significantly more calories and experience more cravings than non-stressed women/ people.
There are plenty of healthy, whole foods that can satisfy a craving for something sweet or salty. Besides, being aware of your craving and their triggers makes them much easier to avoid. It also makes it a lot easier to eat healthily and lose weight.
With the teen years come a tremendous amount of physical, biological and emotional changes. This is a significant time for physical growth and sexual maturation. Physical growth in this age increases the need for nutrients and calories.
Out of this, nutrition is an important determinant of physical growth and needs due attention. This is the time when the teen should develop a positive relationship with the right food.
Why do teenagers need healthy food and good nutrition?
Teenagers go through major physical changes in puberty. They need to eat healthy food and provide the body with the right nutrition to fuel these physical changes. Moreover, inadequate nutritional intake during adolescence can also affect the reproductive years and beyond.
Check out Nutrition for Healthy Living
Key Nutrients for Teens
Like any other age, teenagers also requires major nutrients including protein, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins to support different body functions.
However, due to body physiology during adolescence, places extra nutritional demand on the body. Different nutrients are responsible to fulfill various demands of the teenage body.
- Proteins – Required for bodybuilding and help in the repair and maintenance of body tissues.
- Fats – High-energy foods and a source of energy. They also make the food more palatable and provide fat-soluble vitamins.
- Carbohydrates – The main source of energy.
- Vitamins & Minerals – Enable the body to use other nutrients and also play an important role in the growth, repair and regulation of vital body functions.
- Iron & Calcium – Required to manage rapid physical growth during adolescence. Calcium needs during adolescence are greater due to the rapid increase in lean body mass and skeletal growth.
- Zinc – Helps in growth and sexual maturation.
Balanced Diet
A balanced diet provides all nutrients in required amounts and proportions for maintaining health and general well being. It makes a small provision for extra nutrients to withstand a short duration of leanness. It can be achieved through a blend of the above-mentioned food groups. How much a teen should eat depends on their individual needs.
Physical Activity
Along with good nutrition, physical activity during adolescence is important to build muscles, bones, and lift the teen’s spirits.
Whether a teen looks and feels too skinny or too fat, it is important to focus his or her attention on eating well and eating healthy and staying fit.
Even when your fitness goals have nothing to do with how much weight to lose, nutrition is still a vital aspect of fitness. In whichever stage of life you are and whatever your fitness goals are, nutrition is one such element that plays an important role in your overall fitness and well-being.
With that said, nutrition is not just about eating healthy food. One needs to understand the body’s requirements according to the health condition and lifestyle.
However, with so many weight loss and healthy living formulas being marketed everywhere, it can sometimes become overwhelming. Besides, these well-marketed methods may give results, but can be at the cost of your overall good health, either physically or mentally.
That’s where right guidance and coaching plays an important role. Nutrition Coaches bridge the gap between the desire to be healthy and being healthy. A nutrition coach can be a great way of ensuring that what you are eating is safely helping you achieve your fitness goals.
Benefits of Nutrition Coach
Nutrition & Wellness Coach is an expert in the field who provides continuous support and guidance throughout the fitness journey. as you set goals and make sustainable changes that improve your health and wellbeing.
When you are confused with the choices to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle, nutrition coaches with their knowledge can come to your rescue. Here are some reasons to hire a coach instead of trying to figure it out all by yourself.
Personalized Nutrition
Readymade diet plans are generic eating plans that are made without considering a person’s body type, composition and lifestyle factors.
A nutritional coach will draft a personalised nutrition plan according to an individual’s body and lifestyle requirement instead of a one size fits all approach. He will monitor a client’s progress and will make systematic and precise amendments as per the needs.
Diet Planning
A certified nutritional coach can formulate healthy meal plans to meet client’s nutritional needs and aid their workouts. A good coach knows the best so they teach clients that a meal plan that promotes starvation isn’t a viable option for long-term success.
Encouragement
During the fitness journey, everyone experiences low-motivated days when they may even feel tempted to give up. A coach supports and encourages the client and helps them mentally get over those hitches on the road. They help the client to stay focused on long-term goals.
Expertise
The advice of the nutrition coach is based on scientific and thorough research. They have expertise in understanding the body processes and how to get the best from resources. They can expose the nutritional myths and help clients in more balanced eating.
Progress Monitoring
It is important to keep a track of the progress to make changes in the diet and lifestyle. The scale isn’t always a good measure and the coach knows when to use it and when not to. A nutrition coach helps clients track their progress and make changes in their diet and exercise routine over time.
Disclaimer: Nutrition or Wellness Coach Does Not Treat Illness
It is beyond the scope of practice of a nutrition coach to diagnose or treat any medical ailment. They can refer their clients to a specialist for additional medical testing. They ensure to get medical clearance before beginning a new eating plan.
There have been a lot of discussions about healthy eating. To take it one step further, healthy eating is about choosing the right food in the right proportion. Few questions need to be answered while considering healthy eating.
- What type of foods to put on your plate?
- How much should be the portion size?
- How often should you eat?
While it is important to ensure to provide your body with the essential nutrients with every meal, one also has to take care of the food groups and portions of each of these food groups. And it all starts with your plate.
While following a healthy eating plan, what food you take on your plate is an important consideration. So, when it comes to filling your plate, think quality over quantity. Building a meal centred around nutrient-dense, wholesome fruits and vegetables are important.
How to create a healthy eating plate
Fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes all provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and nutrients. Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables and the remaining half with fibre and protein to create a healthy foundation for every meal. Besides, ensure one serving of low-fat or fat-free dairy to round out each meal.
Fruits & Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are low-calorie foods with tremendous health benefits. They are an important source of nutrients, including potassium, dietary fibre, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, and vitamin C. Choose from a variety of colourful fresh fruits and vegetables. Make sure to include a variety of different colours like greens, reds, and oranges to get a wider variety of nutrients and health benefits.
Whole Grains for Healthy Carbs
Carbohydrates should be your body’s main source of energy in a healthy, balanced diet. Starchy vegetables and whole grains are rich in healthy carbs. Besides, they also provide many other nutrients, including dietary fibre, several B vitamins, and minerals, like iron, potassium, magnesium, and selenium.
Lean Protein
Proteins play a crucial role in metabolism, immunity, fluid balance, and energy. Foods that provide high levels of protein include dairy and plant proteins. These foods provide not only protein but B vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B6), vitamin E, iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium.
Healthy Fats
Healthy fats provide essential nutrients and can come in lots of shapes and sizes. It could be part of your protein or part of your vegetable intake in the form of nuts or seeds. Oils derived from plants provide essential fatty acids, mono- and polyunsaturated fats and vitamin E.
Step up to Supplements
While creating a balanced meal plate can get you the essential nutrients, due to certain health conditions or food allergies, you may at times have nutritional gaps that may need to be filled by supplements. The supplement can help ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need. However, it is important to talk to a nutrition expert before taking any supplements.
Healthy food choices vary from person to person, depending on age, gender, overall health, and physical activity. Though it may seem difficult to make every meal perfectly divided into food group portions, taking small steps can make a difference and lead to healthy lifestyle choices. Talk to our nutrition expert at 8 Fitness Tips to learn more about balanced nutritional meals.
Food systems can deliver numerous biological functions through dietary components in the human body. Our body needs different types of nutrients to perform different functions. The more variety of food you have on your plate, the more types of nutrients the body gets from it. And that’s where Indian food wins. The inclusion of various spices, pulses, rice and grains, makes it one of the most wholesome foods in the world.
What does the Indian diet offer?
Indian Food Offer Variety
Typical Indian meals consist of dal (a legume dish) and rice, vegetables, salad, and fruit. This supplies the body with major nutrients including minerals, vitamins, iron, carbohydrates, proteins, calcium and fats. They are derived through a combination of the five major food groups – fruits and vegetables, cereals and pulses, meat and dairy products and fats and oils.
How does an Indian diet help healthy living?
Here are the reasons why you should stick with an Indian Diet.
Preparation of Indian food
The way Indian food is prepared contributes a lot to its health benefits. Sprouting, fermentation, malting etc enhance the functional properties of foods. Indian cooking style retains the nutritional aspects of the food and optimizes and also enhances the benefits provided by that.
Medicinal properties offered by herbs and spices
The use of herbs and spices has been incredibly important throughout history. Spices like turmeric, garlic, chillies, black pepper, cumin, fenugreek and many more offer exceptional medicinal and healing properties. The Indian cuisines make optimum use of these spices and herbs adding a healing property to the dishes.
Loaded with proteins and dietary fibre
Indian food consists of a variety of grains that are high in dietary fibre and enhances the body’s health and functioning. Besides, pulses that are high in protein are also an important part of Indian meals.
Fewer and safer preservatives
Traditional Indian cooking involves cooking fresh vegetables from scratch making the food healthier and preservatives free. Even if there is any use of preservatives in any of the preparation, it is done by using natural preservatives like salt, lemon, spices etc.
Use of good fats
Indian cooking is believed to make use of oil and ghee more as compared to other cooking methods. However, it involves the use of a variety of oils and ghee which contributes to fulfilling the body’s healthy fats requirement. Besides, the oils which are used in cooking are made from mustard seeds, peanuts, coconut, and groundnut which again is healthier choices an individual can make for cooking food.
A joint is the part of the body where two or more bones meet to allow movement. They are held together, supported and cushioned by connective tissue called cartilage and ligaments. As the bones move against one another, smooth cartilage prevents friction.
However, just as the tread on your tires wears away over time, the cartilage can break down, too. And without enough padding, the bones will hurt when they rub against each other at the joints. This discomfort, ache or soreness experienced in joints due to breakdown of the cartilage is called osteoarthritis.
Tips to keep your joints healthy
Frayed cartilage can’t heal or grow back. However, you can always protect the cartilage and safeguard your joints. To maintain or improve your joint health, exercise is key. But what else can you do?
Here are a few tips for safeguarding your joints — and the cartilage that supports them.
Stay physically active
The body is supposed to move; our joints allow for movement. Movement eases joint stiffness, reduces joint pain, strengthens the muscles which surround the joints, and helps us maintain a healthy weight.
Keep a check on your body weight
We must maintain our ideal body weight for a lot many reasons including healthy joints. Carrying excess body weight adds stress to our joints, especially the weight-bearing joints. Weight loss can significantly reduce knee pain and joint stiffness.
Give muscle support to your joints
Strong muscles support your joints. If you don’t have enough muscle, your joints take a pounding, especially your spine, hips, and knees, which must support your entire body weight. Weight training exercises help build muscle and keep your muscles and surrounding ligaments strong. That way, your joints don’t have to do all the work.
A certified fitness trainer can show you the best exercises for healthy joints and how to do them correctly.
Take care of your nutrition
For strong bones, it is vital to take in enough calcium and vitamin D every day. Additionally, your muscles need protein too. If you think your body is not meeting your requirements, consider supplements.
Give importance to the posture
To protect your joints from your neck down to your knees, always stand and sit up straight. When walking, make sure your shoulders are back and your spine is straight. If you work at a desk, take a break every hour to stretch and readjust your posture.
Pay attention to body pains
Over time, a certain amount of wear and tear on your joints is inevitable. But it doesn’t have to affect the way your body feels, functions or moves. If you experience a clicking or popping sensation in the joint when you walk, bend or lunge, but there’s no pain or swelling, you don’t need to worry about it. However, if you have pain or swelling with that clicking or popping, it’s best to schedule a visit to your doctor.
Otherwise, follow these steps to protect these essential joints to minimize your risk of experiencing pain, stiffness, and inflammation in your knees.
If you are experiencing pain or stiffness in your joints, talk to our fitness expert at 8 Fitness Tips.
There is a well-established relationship between good health and good nutrition. The impact of nutrition sporting performance itself has become a subject of study. Whether you are a competing athlete, a hobby sports player or a religious exerciser, the foundation to improve your performance is a nutritionally rich diet.
You are more likely to feel tired and perform poorly when you do not get enough calories, carbohydrates, proteins, fluids, iron, vitamins, and other minerals. Eating a nutrition-rich diet can help provide the energy you need to finish a race, or just enjoy a casual sport or activity.
Good Diet for Athletes
When we talk about the nutrient requirements for athletes, the quality of nutrients consumed is equally important as the quantity of nutrients. In that case, fats, proteins and carbohydrates and all the other micronutrients need to be high quality.
Besides, the basic training diet should be sufficient to meet the demands of training and exercise and enhance adaptation and recovery between training sessions. This diet has to be tailored considering an athlete’s body weight and composition, training duration and the type of sport they play.
Diet Requirement of Athletes
Carbs
Athletes who exercise vigorously may need to increase their carbohydrates intake to meet their energy requirements. Carbohydrates act as a key energy source during exercise and fuel exercising muscle tissue and other body systems.
If carbohydrate in the diet is restricted, a person’s ability to exercise is compromised. This can also result in a loss of protein (muscle) tissue, since the body may start to break down muscle tissue to meet its energy needs.
Proteins
Protein plays a key role in post-exercise recovery and repair and therefore is an important part of a training diet. Protein needs are generally met by following a high-carbohydrate diet because many foods are a combination of carbohydrates and protein.
Fluids
Water is another most important, yet undervalued, nutrient for all including athletes. The body can lose several litres of sweat in an hour of vigorous exercise. Water and other fluids help to keep the body hydrated and at the right temperature.
Ensure consuming a good amount of water and other fluids throughout the day, whether or not you will be exercising.
Vitamins and Minerals
Athletes should ensure to consume the essential vitamins and minerals they need to support their general health and sports performance. The body requirement of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients is usually achieved by consuming a varied, balanced diet. Some may choose to take supplements to meet the requirements.
If you are considering nutritional supplements to improve your athletic performance, talk to 8 Fitness Tip’s professional nutritionists today!
Meal Timing
Besides the right nutrition, the timing of meals and snacks also plays an important role in an athlete’s performance. The timing and content of meals can help support training needs, reduce fatigue, and help optimize body composition. These may vary depending on the type of athlete.
Nutrition According to the Sport Type
Athletes have different nutritional requirements depending on which sport they are in. They may need to consult a sports nutritionist, or a registered dietitian, to ensure they consume the right diet and maintain ideal body weight for optimal performance and recovery. Plan a timing strategy that suits your body, sport, and schedule.
Plan a diet that is right for your needs. Talk to our professional nutritionists at 8 Fitness Tips.
When talking about food, you’ll often hear people refer to the word nutrients. Nutrients are the substances in food that our bodies process to enable them to function. They are the building blocks for the repair and growth of our body and provide us with energy to carry out life processes. There are six major nutrients that our body needs; viz Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals, Water.
When the body does not get or is not able to absorb the required amount of nutrients from food, it leads to a variety of health problems. And to avoid this, these nutrients are supplied to the body in various other forms.
Dietary supplements can provide adequate amounts of essential nutrients when taken under expert guidance.
Generally, people with the following conditions are advised to take dietary supplements:
- Pregnant and breast-feeding women
- Women during their post-menopausal state
- Women suffering heavy menstruation bleeding
- People having chronic diarrhoea
- People are allergic to certain kind of food group or those who have food intolerances
- People who have removed dairy products from their diet
If you are not falling under any of the above categories, and are eating all the fruits and vegetables, getting enough rest and staying hydrated, why would your body need supplements?
People take dietary supplements to maintain their general health, support mental and sports-related performance and provide support to the immune system.
Let us understand how dietary supplements when administered under expert guidance can benefit our lifestyle.
Extensive physical activity can increase our nutrient needs
Athletes or people who exercise extensively, require a lot of nutrients to match up the activity level. The nutrients used by the body during excessive physical activity needs to be restored to promote recovery after an intense workout. That’s why athlete’s diets include TONS of carbs and protein.
The body does not meet the dietary recommendations
If our diet is not able to fulfil the nutritional requirement or due to strict dieting, poor appetite or the body’s changing nutritional requirements, dietary supplements can bridge this nutritional gap.
Supplements together with food can provide a proper balance of nutrients.
Ageing affects nutrient absorption capacity
Ageing affects the body’s capability to break down and absorb nutrients from food. Supplements like digestive enzymes can help break down carbohydrates, fats and protein and optimize nutrient absorption.
Wrong Food Choices
Wrong food habits like eating junk food or avoiding a certain type of foods can make it difficult for our bodies to get all the nutrients it needs from food. Although supplementation cannot replace a healthy diet, it can help prevent the damage poor eating habits are causing.
Food grown or treated chemically can lose some necessary nutrients
Pesticides and herbicides used in farming deplete the food of its natural nutrients. These chemicals create free radicals that attack our digestive and immune system. Supplements like antioxidants help fight harmful free radicals and protect our bodies against these dangerous toxins.
Dietary supplements are meant to augment your daily intake of nutrients, including vitamins and minerals. Many are safe and offer significant health benefits, but some possess health risks, especially if overused. Therefore, it is recommended not to take any supplements without consulting a nutrition expert.
If you want to check if your diet is fulfilling all your nutrient requirements according to your age and lifestyle, talk to our expert today!
Weight gain after pregnancy is inevitable and natural. However, it also goes away as naturally as it gets put on. One just needs to follow a few healthy lifestyle habits and watch their diet.
Besides, it is recommended to not rush and adopt a gradual approach to weight loss after pregnancy. Always adopt a gradual and effective and reliable post-pregnancy weight loss plan. Losing weight too rapidly after your pregnancy makes your body release toxins into your blood contaminating your breast milk.
Here are a few tips that can help shed those extra kilos and keep you healthy and fit in your motherhood journey.
Post-pregnancy Weight Loss Tips
Exercise
It is better to keep some time aside from your daily routine for exercise. Besides helping in post-pregnancy weight loss, it also offers various other benefits. Exercise helps in reliving the new mommy stress and pep up the mood.
Stay hydrated
Water boosts your metabolism and helps keep a check on your appetite by making you feel full. The best way to check if you are drinking enough fluid is to keep a watch over the transparency of your urine. Clear urine is an indication that you are drinking an adequate amount of water.
Sleep
Sleep-deprivation triggers unhealthy lifestyle choices like binge eating and drinking. Besides, insufficient sleep makes your body release the cortisol hormone, which aggravates the hunger pangs.
Keep healthy snacks close at hand
Breastfeeding spikes the appetite and causes hunger pangs. This has to be dealt with healthily by stocking up on healthy snacks instead of junk.
Post-pregnancy Weight Loss
Fibre
Fibre improves your digestive health. Consuming food rich in soluble fibre keeps your hunger hormones in check making you eat less.
Protein
Healthy protein can boost metabolism and bring down calorie intake by decreasing your appetite.
Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates provide you with energy all around the day, as they take longer to break down.
Unsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats
Do not avoid fats completely to lose weight post-pregnancy. Instead, opt for unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to keep your body healthy and improve cardiac function.
Summary
Generally, nine months is the average time to lose the baby weight. However, every woman takes a different amount of time to lose her post-pregnancy weight depending on the diet and activity level.
Along with exercise, eating a healthy diet rich in proteins, carbs and fibre, drinking enough water and getting the much-needed rest is important to get back in shape.
A very common saying goes like “precaution is better than cure.” And the same goes true for your body’s defence mechanism. The function of the immune system is to defend your body against various illnesses and diseases. So a strong immunity is a precaution you take to keep your body free from diseases.
The immune system is a complex system that is made up of cells in your skin, blood, bone marrow, tissues, and organs. These all work together to protect your body against potentially harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses and limit the damage from noninfectious agents. Here every component has to perform according to the defence plan.
While there is no magic pill that makes these components function efficiently, it is important to plan your nutritional diet and lifestyle to have a strong defence mechanism.
Here’s how you can work on improving your immunity with the right diet and lifestyle.
There is no alternative to a healthy diet
The nutrients you get from food are essential to keeping your immune system functioning properly. Zinc, folate, iron, selenium, copper, and vitamins A, C, E, B6, and B12 are the nutrients your immune system needs to do its job.
Good sleep is important to prepare your body to fight against diseases
Insufficient sleep can make the body vulnerable to diseases. Besides, sleep also affects the body’s metabolism making you prone to illness. When we sleep, the body repairs itself thereby strengthening the immune system.
Also read: Importance of sleep in fitness & healthy living
Exercising lowers the risk of many chronic diseases and improves immunity
Regular moderate exercising improves immunity and lowers the risk of lifestyle-related challenges. 8 Fitness Tips experts recommend 30 to 45 minutes of regular workout session followed by a good nutritious diet.
Keep yourself stress-free by practising a stress-relieving lifestyle
Besides the physical factors like nutrition, rest and exercise, your immune system also has to do with your mental wellbeing. Anxiety, stress and unhealthy habits and affects how your body reacts to these harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses.
Improving immunity with nutrition experts
All the above-mentioned tips will help you boost your immune system and fight against viruses. However, to ensure that you get the optimum amount of nutrients from your diet, talk to our nutrition experts to boost your immune system.