There are many diet plans prevailing in the market which promises quick weight loss. If things are as simple as they say, why ain’t they successful?
There is one common saying “ Slow and steady, wins the race.” And this holds true for the weight loss process as well.
These fad and crash diets either completely change the way you eat, completely remove certain foods from your diet or make you eat only certain food items repeatedly.
Is this way of losing weight actually safe?
Through this article, we are sharing some insights on temporary weight loss versus the right way of achieving fitness. Because we know there is a difference! Read on to know how!
Temporary weight loss can never be permanently healthy
The fad and crash diets will help you lose weight, but not in a healthy way. These diets do not burn calories or remove fats or sustain a healthy weight in the long run. The number on the scale will decrease, and so will your overall health.
You will lose weight but temporarily. On the contrary, the body may gain weight once your crash diet course is over.
They don’t emphasize on exercising
“Lose weight without exercise.” Isn’t the statement funny in itself?
Primarily, exercise prevents regaining the extra fats that your body burns. The fatty acids in our body are utilized by the muscles, which helps in maintaining healthy body weight.
They are risky for your overall health
Fad or crash diets can cause some serious health issues. These diets can deprive you of the necessary nutrients and can even lead to major heart problems.
If you follow these diets for a longer period of time, your body cycle gets dependent on it for its regular working. When you stop following them, it can lead to health and lifestyle disorders.
It’s dangerous to follow the trend
A diet which worked for your friend may not work for you. Not just that, if it worked on your friend’s body, it can prove to be equally harmful to your body.
And if you are already at a risk for diseases these diets can even make the situation worse.
There are healthier alternatives
There is no quick fix to healthy weight loss. It is important to plan and discuss with experts before taking any diet plan.
There are many alternatives for weight loss plans which are worth the effort. Talk to our experts and see what works for your body.
Remember, it is all about preserving your health, leading a disease-free life and eventually feeling good about yourself.
What is Lactose?
Lactose is a form of sugar which is made up of glucose and galactose. It is mostly found in milk products. Lactose is split into glucose and galactose by an enzyme called Lactase. Our body consumes this glucose and galactose in the form of energy.
When we eat something containing lactose, lactase, the enzyme present in the small intestine breaks it down into glucose and galactose which are then absorbed into the bloodstream. These sugar forms are then consumed in the form of energy to provide fuel to the body.
What is Lactose Intolerance?
When lactase activity is reduced in the small intestine, lactose is not digested and can get fermented by the intestine leading lactose intolerance.
The symptoms of lactose intolerance include:
Abdominal pain
Bloating
Flatulence
Diarrhoea
What are the causes of Lactose Intolerance?
Lactose intolerance is very common. This digestive disorder can be caused either due to a decrease in lactase production due to age or it can also be caused due to illness like a stomach bug or celiac disease. The inflammation in the gut leads to a decline in the production of lactase.
What to do in Lactose Intolerance?
If you experience any of the mentioned symptoms after consuming dairy products like milk, curd, buttermilk, cheese, butter or products made from these food items, you may need to cut back or remove dairy products from their diets.
However, dairy products are important sources of nutrients like protein, calcium and vitamins like A, B12 and D. So, without these essential nutrients, your body may suffer health-related problems. Conclusively, you will need to get these nutrients from other sources instead.
It is therefore important to replace it with suitable alternative sources of calcium, vitamins, proteins.
How to treat Lactose Intolerance?
If your body is unable to produce lactase enzyme you can provide your body with this enzyme from other sources.
Besides, according to studies, probiotics and prebiotics are also good alternatives for reducing symptoms of lactose intolerance.
What is the conclusion?
You cannot afford to stay deprived of the important nutrients it gets from the dairy products. However, if your body is not able to digest dairy food products, it is still possible to have a healthy and balanced diet without it. Just make sure that your protein, calcium and vitamins to get everything that your body needs to produce energy.
A newly evolved but an epidemic issue, obesity in children is a growing concern in India. According to researches, there are more than 10 million obese children in the country. And this is the second-highest figure in the world, next to China.
Ironically, India is a developing nation which is also combating widespread poverty and nutritional deficiencies issues. However, around 5-8 % of school-going children in India are found to be obese. And with this pace, over 25 million kids in India will be obese by 2030.
What causes obesity in children?
When the calories consumed by the children are not balanced by the physical activity or energy spent, it causes weight gain and eventually leads to obesity. Environmental influence plays a huge role in childhood obesity.
Change in diet, overconsumption of junk or high sugary foods and a lifestyle of low or NO physical activity together contribute to the problem of childhood obesity. Besides, genetic factors are also one of the causes of obesity in children.
Some of the major causes of obesity in children are:
High consumption of sugary food and beverages
High consumption of junk food
Consumption of portion size in one meal
Lack of physical activity
What are the ill effects of being overweight in children?
Obesity in children is a matter of concern. It is not something to be left unattended. Obesity has serious health implications for both adults and kids. Obesity increases the risks of many diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases etc.
Besides, obese children may also experience psychological issues like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, shyness and inability to connect with the world around.
How to prevent obesity in children?
Being one of the most serious health challenges in the children of the 21st century, it is of vital importance to prevent the disease and treat it the right way to avoid major health complications in future.
Although treating obesity in kids is difficult, there are some simple yet proven strategies to prevent childhood obesity:
Increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables.
Reduce screen time especially during mealtime. Watching TV while eating may cause overeating. Also, this is the time when TV commercials for fast food are broadcasted.
Avoid giving kids sugar and related food items like sweetened drinks.
Encourage physical activity. It is important to facilitate physical activity in small children and 60 minutes of daily vigorous physical activity in older children.
Prevention of childhood obesity is vital because it is near impossible to get children to lose weight and maintain it. A healthy diet and an active lifestyle should start from the pre-conception time itself and be continued through all stages of childhood.
Most overweight (or even underweight people for that matter) have tried various pills, diets, machines, and exercise measures to get that perfect body — but mostly, without success. Staying fit and maintaining a healthy body weight without the proper support, guidance, coaching is an uphill battle that most of the people DO NOT win.
People tend to plan their own weight loss or weight gain journey by joining gyms and self-planned diets. These plans are fine and one can achieve the desired body, but it is usually only short term. Besides, many people do not get a long term sustainable solution and the weight usually returns, and this time with health issues. So, it is always advisable to follow scientifically proven methods for more sustainable fitness.
And this is where a weight loss coach comes to help. These coaches educate you on the best healthy and wholesome foods that will help you to manage the right weight and healthy lifestyle in the long run.
We at 8 Fitness Tips have trained, experienced and certified coaches who work with the clients to develop an individualized eating and exercise plan that works as per the client’s requirement.
Our fitness and wellness coach works to understand and work on the weight management need, encourage you to stay active and dedicated on your journey towards weight management, help you plan your diet and lifestyle for better health and fitness and motivate you to opt for healthy eating options.
Benefits of partnering with 8 Fitness Tips Fitness and Wellness Coach
Achieve long-lasting result
Besides providing you with the kick start towards your weight management journey, our wellness coach helps you develop a healthy lifestyle. We have the tools and support which you will need to make healthy choices and retain a healthy and optimum weight.
Offer you more than fitness
When you have the support and guidance of a weight management coach, you experience improvements in your overall health including your physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and cognitive well-being. Our coaches not only help you in your weight management and healthy diet plan, but they also help you in improving in other areas of your life and that’s the reason we call them ‘Wellness Coach’
Helps you set achievable goals
The right guidance leads to the right path and that is what helps you achieve your goal of a healthy and fit life. 8 Fitness Tips’ Weight Management Program follows a client-centred approach in designing around you as a unique individual.
Weight management coaches or nutrition experts help you to perceive the journey in an easy way. They make you understand the process of losing or gaining weight. Once you achieve your desired weight, you can then continue on your journey all by yourself. And this time you are better equipped to carry on with it.
Besides, coaching has been proven to be more effective and efficient in achieving more motivation, more satisfaction, and a better sense of wellbeing.
Article at a Glance:
What you eat reflects on your health and quality of life. And vice-versa, our health goals decide our eating habits.
If you want to lose your belly fat, change the way you eat. If you want to build muscles, eat accordingly. Moreover, the most common advice to be healthy is to eat a healthy diet.
But, what does healthy eating even mean?
- Is it shunning sweet potatoes and quinoa in favour of cheese and coconut oil?
- Is it avoiding sugary foods like ice cream and candy at all costs?
- Or is it avoiding all dairy and nix gluten?
Although eating healthy can be fairly simple, the popular “diets” and dieting trends may confuse.
These diets and dieting trends which prompt people to try unsustainable and unnecessarily restrictive diets can become confusing, overwhelming and exhaustive and may not give any long-lasting result.
But worry not! Healthy eating is far simpler than you may think.
What is Healthy Eating?
Healthy eating necessarily means eating nutrition-based food. Food items that offer more nutrition to the body.
According to studies, consuming nutrition-based diets lowers the risk of all chronic diseases possibly because these diets tend to include more heart-healthy fibre and nutrients like potassium while limiting the intake of saturated fat and cholesterol.
Foods need to hold on to its fibre, vitamins, and minerals to stay healthy and nutritious. Besides, it should be free from harmful preservatives that are added to it to keep the shelf life longer than natural.
Why is it important to develop healthy eating habits?
Healthy eating habits are important since they are the tools for a life lived well — and long. When you make healthy decisions about your eating habits, you are at a lower risk for many diseases including cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and even anxiety and depression.
Here are some of the listed reasons for the importance of healthy eating habit:
Healthy eating can help prevent disease
Healthy eating leads to a healthy disease-free life. Whereas unhealthy habits like poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and excessive alcohol are the top causes of chronic disease including heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
Eating habits affect your mental health
Food choices affect our physical and mental health equally. When we prioritize a healthy diet, our mental health sees an equal boost as our physical health.
A diet rich in vitamins and minerals lowers the risk for mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Healthy eating helps in your weight loss journey
Having a healthy eating lifestyle in which due attention is given to portion sizes will help in achieving a healthy weight.
Eat mindfully:
- Stop eating when you’re full.
- Don’t eat too fast
- Don’t eat for emotional reasons.
Healthy eating does not require you to make huge changes. Set small goals and change your eating habits a little bit at a time. Gradually, small changes will make a big difference in your health.
Developing healthy habits, setting small goals are not that difficult. Since the benefits of good nutrition are fairly obvious to most of us. You have more energy, better health conditions, and a healthier state of mind.
We have been learning since ages that healthy eating plays an important role in maintaining a healthy weight, decreasing the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, cancer and a host of other health ailments.
And if there are so many good reasons for healthy eating, why is it so difficult to do?
When talking about diet, the most common advice that one gets is to either eat less or avoid fat. And eventually, we feel overwhelmed with conflicting nutrition and diet opinions.
However, depriving yourself of essential nutrition and fats is not the solution, but balancing these nutrition’s in the right amount at the right time is.
To support a healthy lifestyle, it is essential to get the right type and amount of foods at the right time.
How much do you need daily, when is the best time to eat proteins or carbs and what should the portion size be – all these questions look very confusing. Isn’t it?
Do not get carried away with all these. Just to our fitness experts and get yourself a sorted balanced nutritional meal plan that matches your lifestyle requirements.
Further, read on to understand how a balanced nutritional meal looks like!
What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet should contain different kinds of foods and nutrients in certain quantities and proportions so that the body’s requirement for calories, proteins, minerals, vitamins and alternative nutrients is met. Besides, a small provision must also be reserved for additional nutrients to endure the short length of leanness.
A balanced diet should also offer bioactive phytochemicals like dietary fibre, antioxidants and nutraceuticals that have positive health advantages.
A balanced diet primarily focuses on providing all these nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat along with micronutrients including vitamins and minerals) that your body needs. These nutrients play different roles in the smooth functioning of various body parts.
Let’s understand more about these nutrients:
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of energy. Carbs are hard to digest but they’re an important part of a healthy balanced diet.
Proteins
Protein is the main component of all of your body’s cells, including your hair, skin and soft tissues. We burn more calories in digesting proteins than carbs.
Fats
Fats provide energy, store vitamins and synthesize hormones.
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and Minerals are the micronutrients that support metabolism, nerve and muscle function, bone maintenance and cell production.
Minerals are inorganic and so minerals from plants, meat and fish easily find their way into the body.
Vitamins are fragile compounds and it’s difficult to shuttle them as they may be destroyed during cooking or storing. Vitamin A, E, B12 and D are vital and so is calcium and iron.
Eat wisely
Healthy eating habits primarily consist of three main meals along with healthy snacking to curb cravings. This is important to keep your body running smoothly.
Ideally, breakfast should be the heaviest and healthiest meal of the day. However, due to busy schedules, you sometimes can just manage to gulp a glass of milk and grab a bite of toast.
But when you skip or gulp your breakfast, and take a quick lunch, your body eventually demands more in dinner and you end up eating heavy dinner. While dinner should be the lightest meal of the day, it ends up as an elaborate family meal.
Here’s how you can divide your meals for balanced nutrition.
Breakfast
A good morning meal should comprise three things – carbs, proteins and nuts. The right balance of these will allow you to eat fewer calories for the rest of the day.
Lunch
Lunch should be a mix of high-fibre, starchy carbs and some good sources of proteins. You can also include some probiotics and fibre to complete your meal.
Dinner
To have a balanced nutritional intake, pick your last meal of the day with a high satiating value that will keep you full for longer and curb midnight bingeing. For this, include vitamins and minerals in your dinner. Limit your carbohydrate intake but do not avoid it completely. Your body needs them to regenerate and repair itself during your sleep time.
Intermittent snacking is important
Healthy snacking is important as it fulfils the quick ‘pick-me-up’ need of your body. Eating small yet frequent meals is the ideal way to supply your body with the required energy. It does not mean you eat more but spread your daily requirements of nutrients throughout the day.
Fuel up at the right time
The timing of the meals plays an important role in the smooth functioning of your digestive system.
Ideally, have your first meal of the day in about one and a half hours after waking up. Further, keep at least a three-hour gap between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and evening tea time. Dinner should be taken two hours before your sleep time. This will allow your body to wrap up the digestion process.
If you need to lose weight or look fitter connect with 8 Fitness Tips to create a perfect weight loss plan as per your body requirement. Our well-researched and scientifically proven diet and weight loss plan will help you shed those extra kilos and develop healthier habits.
