Love Yourself! - Zartaj Shaikh (reading the story of the .TXT) 📗

and dinner like a beggar'? Well, don't dismiss it. This age-old wisdom holds true even today, say nutritionists, dieticians and obesity consultants.

 

Break your fast Consulting nutritionist and clinical dietitian Pooja Makhija says, "The most important meal of the day, undoubtedly, is breakfast. The first food intake after a minimum gap of seven-eight hours, it acts as a fuel to jump-start the body."

Pooja says a person's breakfast habit decides if his/her body goes into burning (high BMR) or storing (low BMR, high fat-storing) mode. Nutritionist Deepshikha Agarwal says, "You break your night-long fast with this meal. It provides 25% of the total energy and nutrients required by the body. It will boost your energy levels and concentration."

 

Missing it is dangerous No breakfast means a sluggish start to the day. It also makes a person eat larger meals in the course of the day, says Pooja. "Since activity level, for most people, is maximum in the day, whatever you eat for breakfast is burnt well. So, it can be the biggest meal of the day. In fact, it is the best time for a cheat-meal," she says.

 

The best breakfast Says Deepshikha, "The first meal of the day should be a perfect combination of carbohydrates, protein and fiber." An ideal breakfast must include all the "five pillars of nutrition", adds Pooja. Carbohydrates: Poha/upma/bread/idli/dosa/paratha/wheatflakes.

 

Proteins: Sprouts/milk/curd/egg white/sausage.

 

Fat: All foods contain inherent or invisible fat.

 

Vitamins and minerals: Though required in very little quantities, these two are extremely important for a balanced breakfast. Fruits and vegetables are their best sources.

 

Try this her breakfast, says Pooja, includes a glass of vegetable juice, three-four egg whites and a slice of bread. "This ensures a complete, nourishing, balanced, supercharging and roaring start."

 

Other options for a good breakfast: Cornflakes/wheatflakes/muesli + milk + fruit

 

Upma/poha with vegetables and sprouts

 

Idli/dosa + sambhar with vegetables

 

Dal paratha + vegetable raita

 

Dal chilla with vegetables + bread/roti

 

Vegetable sandwich + milkshake

 

Egg/sausage + bread + vegetables

 

Beware Never start your day with caffeine. Eat something (fruit/biscuit/plain milk) first and about 20 minutes later, have tea or coffee.

Six habits that aid weight loss

 

Your new year’s resolution was to lose a few kilos, for which you made diet-charts, workout plans, set reminders, even planned on what your weight loss reward would be.

But its mid-year already and you have completely gone off-track from your weight loss plan. Worry not! With these six habits that aid weight loss, you will soon be on the right track to healthy weight loss and a fitter you.

 

Weight loss tip #1: Be consistent What ever is the exercise regime you take up to support your weight loss plans- swimming, running, yoga or squash, be consistent with it. This will take a lot of will power and some co-operation from your loved ones. But, being consistent with your weight loss workout regime will do you good in the long run. Vary the kind of workout you do every few months or weeks, but do not skip sessions except for on rest days. Vary the kind of workout you do every few months or weeks, but do not skip sessions except for on rest days.

 

Weight loss tip #2: Eat on time By now, you already know a lot about what you should eat to support weight loss. It is just as important to eat on time. Eat your meals at regular intervals- whether it is six small meals a day or three big ones; do no skip any. Skipping meals or eating irregularly can lead to many other health complications like bloating and acidity, apart from sabotaging your weight loss plans. Tip: Keep yourself hydrated, so that you do not go on a binge.

 

Weight loss tip #3: Be on the move Be active. Get going, whenever you can. Don't let your job chain you to your desk all day. Get up, go for short walks, get some fresh air every two hours or so. It will improve your circulation and avoid the flab from piling up. Also try to walk small distances like to the grocery store, to the station, to the bus stop etc.

 

Weight loss tip #4: Sleep well Sleep well and sleep right. Your body needs to recover and regenerate itself after a long working day. You need to give it enough time for that. Seven-eight hours of sleep every night is essential. Sleeping lesser or more could lead to accumulation of fat. So make sure you get enough rest.

 

Weight loss tip #5: Breathe right How many of us really pay attention to the way we breathe? Hardly anyone! It is about time you started paying attention to this tiny but vital function and start doing it right. The right way according to yoga experts is to expand your diaphragm as you inhale and push it in as you exhale. Paying attention to the way you breath will help you beat stress, which can play a major spoil sport in your weight loss plan.

 

Weight loss tip #6: Strike a balance Remember: When planning for weight loss, It pays to be patient. You are not going to lose weight overnight. So don't be discouraged and don't punish your body if you don't see instant results. Starving yourself or putting in overtime at the gym is never the answer. It will only lead to exhaustion, fatigue and will eventually lower your immunity. In fact, you will benefit a lot if you take breaks in between your routine workouts. And occasionally, treating yourself to a piece of chocolate or a slice of pizza will not do any harm to your weight loss plans.

 

Knowing your body and respecting its demands is the key to successful weight loss. Fad diets and crash exercise routines may help you get the body you want, but if you don't develop these seven habits to healthy weight loss, you'll lose it in no time.

My story, my journey.

 

 

Well from now on in this book I am going to write my story. No more boring fact filled chapter but instead my journey, what I did to get what I have got today. Well it’s kind of interesting to know the background first, from where it all started.

            

   In India, education system is quite different than the one around the globe. Here one finishes high school in 10th grade itself. And until a kid give the final exam his future is already decided (either by the parents or the kid decides it for himself/herself) for 11th grade the person has to choose which field it wants to start a career in and then choose a subject. Art, commerce or science. Basically if one chooses science that person can do anything in life. Whatever that person wishes to. Like do fine arts for graduation or graduate from commerce or become a doctor or an engineer etc. whereas if a person chooses to do commerce or arts that person cannot go to the fields that a science student can enter. Typical subjects that a science students study for 2 years consist of these:

 

Physics Chemistry Biology/computer science/electronics Mathematics/geography (recently added as an option for those who are weak in math and wanna study medicine in future) French/Information technology/Hindi Environmental science English Physical training (aka health and physical education)

 

 

Basically my subjects where phy, chem, math, bio, IT, E.V.S, eng, PT. being a science student is like being a royalty. Everyone treats you like one (royalty). Reason is simple, we are all rounder’s, we can do whatever we like, we are honored, even if we don’t pay attention in lecture’s, no one punishes us. Cause teachers know that we all will get amazing grades (if we couldn’t we wouldn’t ever get admission for science stream). We were the privileged (but we had earned that through hard work and studies!) we did take part in everything and anything we liked to. Teacher does never stop us saying it would affect our studies.

 

              

I would sit on the last benches with my friends during lecture and would play games like x and o’s; name, place, animal, thing; red hand; and many more such games. If teacher caught us playing she wouldn’t stop us or anything. But then there would be surprise quiz taking place once in a week (for which we had to be prepared). But then with many privileges there is something more, life of a science student is not at all easy.

              

 

One has to reach college by 7:45 am; if you are not on the premises before the first bell you miss the first lecture. Usually college leaves at 1:30 pm for everyone but if you are in the lab you have to complete the experiment you are doing, note down observations, get it signed by the teacher, cleanup your apparatus and place it in your cupboard’s, clean the table you were using to do the experiment, collect all your materials. Only after you have done all this you are allowed to leave the college. After reaching home one only gets half an hour to change the uniform freshen up have lunch. After that one has to do the homework. At 3:00 pm usually any science student would have their classes (a substitute for not paying attention in the lectures) everyone in classes would pay attention to the lecture (obviously or we would lose our reputation) these would go on until 8:00 pm with a small break of half an hour in between. But paying attention to these lectures was fun. Being the first bench student, I was like any other scholar (knew about everything, that teacher is going to teach, in advance). Usually in math lectures I would compete with my teacher on who finishes the sum first? No one in my class could match up with me in math. Commerce students would come to me to study calculus. (Even though people say it’s tough. It actually isn’t at all..!) I would take pleasure in teaching them; they would pay me by buying me my favorite chocolates, or buy me some snacks (cookies mostly) (because I hardly got time to eat anything. My breaks would be used up in teaching these kids) etc. at 8:00 pm I would start going towards my house. It was half an hour walk. After reaching home I would have dinner and then would start studying. Doing homework etc. I would only get some 4-5 hours of sleep only.

 

Now being such privileged one has to pay a price. There is a saying among the students of India. ‘One takes science stream for studies only when one hates oneself.’ Well it’s true to an extents cause when you are a science student