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.
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.
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!
What is Detoxification
Full body detox or cleanse typically implies getting rid of toxins from the body to improve overall health and well-being while also promoting weight loss. Our body has its way of cleansing itself with the help of our detox organs including the liver, kidneys, lungs, gut, and skin.
When the body gets overloaded by toxins these organs get knocked out of balance. And that’s when it needs a little help in detoxing.
Why Detox?
Few symptoms tell when our body needs help in detoxification. Persistent fatigue, constipation or irregular bowel movements, inability to lose weight despite clean eating and regular exercise etc are some of the signs that indicate toxins in the body.
When you experience one or more of these symptoms regularly, it’s time to reclaim your good health by making some positive lifestyle changes and proactive health choices.
Benefits of Detoxing or Cleansing
There are a lot of health benefits associated with the body cleansing or detoxification process which is designed to eliminate toxins from your body. Here are a few of them:
- Weight loss
- Clear & Healthy Skin Health
- Improved Digestion
- High Energy Level
How to Detox?
Here is how you can optimize your body’s natural detoxification system.
- Drink more water – Water helps in digestion and nutrient absorption and detoxifies your body by removing waste products.
- Limit the intake of processed foods – By consuming less junk food, you can keep your body’s
detoxification system healthy.
- Regular exercise – Exercise can help your body’s systems — including its detoxification system
— function properly and protect against disease.
- Meditate – Meditation helps you detox your mind and enhance your ability to focus.
- Ensure adequate sleep – Sleep reorganizes and recharges the brain and body while removing toxic waste byproducts.
Summary
Your body’s body’s natural detoxification system (liver, kidneys, lungs, gut, and skin) can be enhanced and improved by following a few simple steps and bringing some positive change in the lifestyle.
स्वस्थ मस्तिष्क और शरीर के लिए वरदान – ब्राह्मी
आयुर्वेद में हर तरह की बीमारी का संपूर्ण ईलाज मौजूद है। प्राकृतिक औषधियों के प्रयोग से कई तरह के असाध्य रोगों को पूरी तरह ठीक करने में आयुर्वेदिक औषधीय पद्धति ने अच्छी सफलता पाई है।
इन्हीं प्राकृतिक औषधियों में से एक औषधि है ब्राह्मी जिसे ‘ब्रेन बूस्टर’ के नाम से भी जाना जाता है। फूलों सहित यह पौधा गुणकारी औषधि के रूप में प्रयोग में लाया जाता है। याद्दाश्त बढ़ाने बढ़ने के लिए सबसे बेहतरीन प्राकृतिक औषधि, ब्राह्मी, मस्तिष्क के शॉर्ट टर्म मेमोरी और लांग टर्म मेमोरी को बेहतर बनाने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाती है।
आइये जानते हैं कुदरत का वरदान माने जाने वाली इस जड़ी-बूटी के कई अन्य फायदों के बारे में:
ब्राह्मी के फायदे
स्मरणशक्ति बढ़ाने में मददगार – ब्राह्मी के सबसे बेशकीमती लाभ स्मृति, एकाग्रता और दिमाग को उत्तेजित करने की क्षमता है।
अल्जाइमर के मरीज़ों के लिए फायदेमंद – ब्राह्मी में एमिलॉइड नाम का कंपाउंड पाया जाता है जो अल्जाइमर्स की बीमारी में काफी फायदेमंद होता है। साथ ही यह अल्जाइमर की वजह से दिमाग को होने वाले नुकसान से बचाने में भी मदद करता है।
तनाव को काम करे – ब्राह्मी कोर्टिसोल के स्तर को कम करने में मदद करता है, जो कि एक स्ट्रेस हार्मोन है। इसका प्रयोग तनाव और चिंता को कम करने के लिए किया जाता है। यह तनाव के प्रभावों को खत्म करने का काम करता है।
शरीर को बनाए स्वस्थ – ब्राह्मी में भरपूर मात्रा में एंटी ऑक्सीडेंट पाया जाता है जो कि एक स्वस्थ जीवन के लिए जरूरी होता है। यह शरीर के उन तत्वों को जड़ से खत्म करने का काम करता है जो कैंसर सेल्स को बढ़ने में मदद करते हैं।
पाचन तंत्र को बनाए स्वस्थ – ब्राह्मी के नियमित सेवन से पाचन संबंधी दिक्कतें भी दूर होती हैं, और पाचन तंत्र भी मजबूत होता है।
ब्लड शुगर लेवल को रेगुलेट करे – शरीर में ब्लड शुगर लेवल को सही तरीके से रेगुलेट करने में भी ब्राह्मी अहम योगदान देता है। इसके साथ ही साथ यह हाइपोग्लिसीमिया के लक्षणों से भी आराम दिलाने में सहायक है।
त्वचा और बालों के लिए फायदेमंद – बालों में डैंड्रफ या फिर खुजली की समस्या भी ब्राह्मी के प्रयोग से ठीक हो सकती है। तमाम तरह की सौंदर्य समस्याओं में ब्राह्मी का प्रयोग औषधि के रूप में किया जाता है। इसमें मौजूद एंटी ऑक्सीडेंट्स शरीर से टॉक्सिंस को बाहर निकालने का काम करते हैं।
ब्राह्मी का प्रयोग करने के तरीके
ब्राह्मी के उपयोग का असली कारण मानव स्वास्थ्य पर हो रहे इसका अच्छा प्रभाव है। ब्राह्मी सामान्यतः एक ताजा सलाद के रूप में प्रयोग की जाती है। लेकिन इस जड़ी बूटी को सुखाकर, पीसकर और किसी भी अन्य रूप में इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता है। इसकी पत्तियों को चबाना एक विटामिन सप्लीमेंट की तरह टॉनिक का काम करता है।
- ब्राह्मी का तेल त्वचा पर लगाने से त्वचा स्वस्थ बनती है। इस तेल की सिर में भी मसाज की जाती है जिससे दिमाग तेज़ होता है।
- ब्राह्मी का पेस्ट बनाकर उसे त्वचा पर लगाया जा सकता है। इससे त्वचा स्वस्थ रहेगी।
- ब्राह्मी टैबलेट के रूप में भी खाई जाती है।
- ब्राह्मी का पाउडर कई स्वास्थ लाभ प्रदान करता है।
A healthy diet requires all the nutrients in the optimum quantity as required for healthy functioning of the body. Any nutrient below or above the required amount can make this functioning, a difficult process.
Of all the nutrients that your body needs, protein is the most important for good health and fitness. Unlike the micronutrients like vitamins and minerals, protein is a macronutrient which is required in large amount to stay healthy.
What is Protein?
Protein is said to be the building block of a human body and is a component of every cell in the body including hair and nails.
Along with Carbohydrates and Fats, Proteins is one of the primary macronutrients that provides the most of the energy to the body. This macronutrient is made up of amino acids which a human body can produce on its own.
Importance of Protein
Besides building bones, and body tissues, protein plays an important role in metabolic reactions, immune response, providing energy to the body, assisting the body in cellular repair, forming blood cells, and more.
Protein is a vital macronutrient for growth and development in young children as well.
Since protein is the component of every cell in our body, not getting enough protein in your diet can cause many health issues.
Sources of Protein
The amount of essential amino acids defines the nutritional value of a protein. The content of amino acids is different in different foods.
Animal products are ideally high-quality ‘complete’ protein containing all of the essential amino acids. Chicken, beef or fish and dairy products are all forms of animal protein.
Besides, soybean products, quinoa and amaranth also have all of the essential amino acids.
On the other hand, Plant proteins including beans, lentils, nuts and whole grains usually do not contain all the essential amino acids and therefore are considered ‘incomplete’ proteins.
People who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet usually have difficulty fulfilling their regular protein requirement. They need to choose a variety of protein sources from a combination of plant foods to ensure an adequate mix of essential amino acids.
Below is the list of food items which are high in protein:
- Eggs
- Almonds
- Oats
- Cottage Cheese
- Greek Yogurt
- Milk
- Broccoli
- Lean Beef
- Quinoa
- Lentils
- Pumpkin Seeds
Supplementing Protein to Fulfill Body’s Requirement
To help improve muscle protein synthesis and promote the growth of lean muscle mass, athletes and fitness professionals many times need to use supplements of the nutrients alongside their resistance exercise. In that case, protein powder is a popular nutritional supplement.
There are many benefits of protein powder:
- Improve muscle size and strength in healthy adults who perform resistance exercise training.
- Reduce muscle damage and improve muscle performance and muscle protein synthesis in healthy adults who perform resistance exercise training.
- Elderly people, people with a chronic illness, athletes and weightlifters may need to exceed the general protein intake on a recommendation.
Types of Protein Supplements
Whey Protein – Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid part of milk separated from the solid curds during the process of making cheese.
Whey protein provides enough amounts of the essential amino acids as required by the body to carry out the functions that proteins perform in the body. It is normally taken by people to improve athletic performance or meet nutritional deficiencies.
Once the whey is from curd, it is further processed to become whey protein powder that can be added to shakes, meals or protein bars.
Soy Protein – Soy protein isolate is naturally high in protein but very low in carbohydrates. This form of protein supplement has been shown as a source of lean, cholesterol-free and lactose-free protein which aids health needs across the lifespan.
Protein Isolates – Protein is extracted from whole food using heat and acid or enzymes to produce protein concentrates. These concentrates normally contain 60–80% protein and remaining 20–40% fat and carbs. On additional filtering, these fats and carbs are removed to form protein isolate powders which contain about 90–95% protein.
A healthy diet is crucial to maintain an active lifestyle. So, you must eat a variety of foods even to meet your body’s nutritional requirement.
Out of all the nutrients that your body needs, protein helps your body in repairing the cells and making new ones. It is also important for growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women.
While protein is an important nutrient, other nutrients are equally important to maintaining good health. So, talk to your nutrition expert and ensure a healthy and optimum supply of all the nutrients in your body.
There has been enough said about the importance of food for our overall health and fitness. There is nothing new to convey that consuming a healthy, balanced diet and staying away from junk and processed foods are the primary requirement of a healthy body.
However, if you think that eating healthy-looking food will ensure a healthy body, you need to be a little more thoughtful and careful in that direction. Everything that glows, is not gold. And gold is not easy to get. It will surprise you that all so-called healthy foods can be full of adulterants that can do more harm than any good.
These adulterants added to healthy food can pave the way for various diseases and disorders. The increasing use of pesticides and fertilizers in growing fruits and vegetables is one common example of food adulteration and its harm to our body.
Moreover, the water that we drink has also not been spared from the adulteration of adding chemicals to either clean it and make it look crystal clear.
It is therefore important to be very careful of this bad practice. We have listed here a few food safety tips that will ensure that you do not fall prey to the malicious adulterants.
Being a little watchful for unwanted ingredients can prevent you from many diseases and disorders.
Be careful of what you buy
Ensure FSSAI-validated labels on the food items that you buy. There should be FSSAI license number, detailed list of ingredients and clearly written manufacturing and expiry date.
FSSAI license ensures the food item is rightly checked for health benefits. You can avoid buying loose package products wherever possible.
Don’t get manipulated by false claims
Every healthy ingredient put into making any packaged food item does not guarantee the health of the overall package. Many times, food manufacturers ‘claim’ of alternate, ‘healthier’ options. These alternate options may do more harm to the body than good. For example, ingredients used in artificial sweeteners are more harmful than natural sugars.
Do a deeper study
This can be in the case where you have made sure of everything going behind the scenes. Check for the source from where the raw material is coming from. If you see things are being prepared right in front of you and claim to be fresh, the ingredients that are used in making this fresh and hot item like oil for frying, food colouring, can be harmful to health.
As mentioned earlier, food adulteration is an open secret. However, with so much information available online, making healthier food choices is not difficult. Look for authenticated, researched tested and proven products for a healthier life.