"I follow a super-busy lifestyle, have no time to cook, yet health is a priority for me and I want to learn a few healthy eating tricks."
If this is you and you tend to juggle work, family, cleaning, cooking, errands and what not, then maintaining a healthy lifestyle without having the luxury of time can be an uphill task. Fret not. To help you out, Dr. Simran Saini, Weight Loss Management Consultant at Fortis Hospital lists out the best eating habits for busy people. So let's get started!
The importance of cooking: A busy lifestyle is one of the most commonly heard health hurdles these days. But no matter how busy your daily schedule is, you always have those 5 minutes to cook something for yourself. It ensures that you know what you are eating, why and how much. It is also an essential tool to ensure quality food reaching your tummy and there are many for whom cooking works as a stress-buster in their hectic routines.
Setting reachable goals: Setting goals that are sensible and can be accommodated between the zillion things happening around you, is a wise thing to do. Food is comfort and it takes time to knock off old habits. So set a goal which is slow, but steady, something you will stick to for some time. This will give you your space and comfort and you will end up winning 80% of the healthy eating battles through an immediate goal-target basis.
Setting a diet journal: Setting a diet journal is like placing a mirror in front of yourself. Yes, it shows you when was the umpteenth time you repeated those cookies and added calories to your diet. It tells you that you are putting on weight, when you are eating too much, although you would like to say to yourself that you 'didn't really eat much food today.' You record details of daily food intake and this makes you think and organise yourself. Maintain a diet journal and stop that hand of yours from reaching out for extra cookies.
Making healthy eating a family effort: Things always work better when you do them together as a family. It always helps to overcome temptation and place yourself in a right perspective, when you see other people doing the right thing too. And it is depressing at times when people around you eat pizza and you are busy chomping on cabbage leaves. So, eat and enjoy healthy food as a family to ensure that no one falls off the healthy eating bandwagon.
Being calorie concious: A meal is a combination of different food groups. If we stick to the right proportions of ingredients used and limit the portion as we need it, it would solve most of our problems. Taking care of not using too much oil, restraining salt and excess sugar, adding more of the vegetables or fiber and keeping processed food to a minimum, makes sure your meal is calorie balanced. This calorie balanced meal is your daily tool for maintaining the right weight.
Avoid pre-packaged and processed meals: Chips, cookies and other fast foods that come from a box or bag count at pre-packaged foods that usually contain preservatives. At times even more of salt or sugar may be added to prolong the life of pre-packaged food, which may not be very healthy for everyone. The only way for you to stay away from pre-packaged food is to remind yourself about the calorie content of the food. Also, consider carefully if you can substitute the craving with a healthy alternative.
Top 5 on-the-go dishes for healthy eaters:
- A fruit yogurt such as strawberry yogurt or pomegranate yogurt
- A healthy sandwich (use hung curd or mustard sauce, instead of store-bought mayo)
- Fruit chaat
- Soy patties
- Dry fruit, vegetable and lean protein salad
The importance of cooking: A busy lifestyle is one of the most commonly heard health hurdles these days. But no matter how busy your daily schedule is, you always have those 5 minutes to cook something for yourself. It ensures that you know what you are eating, why and how much. It is also an essential tool to ensure quality food reaching your tummy and there are many for whom cooking works as a stress-buster in their hectic routines.
Setting reachable goals: Setting goals that are sensible and can be accommodated between the zillion things happening around you, is a wise thing to do. Food is comfort and it takes time to knock off old habits. So set a goal which is slow, but steady, something you will stick to for some time. This will give you your space and comfort and you will end up winning 80% of the healthy eating battles through an immediate goal-target basis.
Setting a diet journal: Setting a diet journal is like placing a mirror in front of yourself. Yes, it shows you when was the umpteenth time you repeated those cookies and added calories to your diet. It tells you that you are putting on weight, when you are eating too much, although you would like to say to yourself that you 'didn't really eat much food today.' You record details of daily food intake and this makes you think and organise yourself. Maintain a diet journal and stop that hand of yours from reaching out for extra cookies.
Making healthy eating a family effort: Things always work better when you do them together as a family. It always helps to overcome temptation and place yourself in a right perspective, when you see other people doing the right thing too. And it is depressing at times when people around you eat pizza and you are busy chomping on cabbage leaves. So, eat and enjoy healthy food as a family to ensure that no one falls off the healthy eating bandwagon.
Being calorie concious: A meal is a combination of different food groups. If we stick to the right proportions of ingredients used and limit the portion as we need it, it would solve most of our problems. Taking care of not using too much oil, restraining salt and excess sugar, adding more of the vegetables or fiber and keeping processed food to a minimum, makes sure your meal is calorie balanced. This calorie balanced meal is your daily tool for maintaining the right weight.
Avoid pre-packaged and processed meals: Chips, cookies and other fast foods that come from a box or bag count at pre-packaged foods that usually contain preservatives. At times even more of salt or sugar may be added to prolong the life of pre-packaged food, which may not be very healthy for everyone. The only way for you to stay away from pre-packaged food is to remind yourself about the calorie content of the food. Also, consider carefully if you can substitute the craving with a healthy alternative.
Top 5 on-the-go dishes for healthy eaters:
- A fruit yogurt such as strawberry yogurt or pomegranate yogurt
- A healthy sandwich (use hung curd or mustard sauce, instead of store-bought mayo)
- Fruit chaat
- Soy patties
- Dry fruit, vegetable and lean protein salad
