Food Management Tips to be Food Smart

“Are you a health conscious person?” is the big question today. It is a widely discussed topic and another way to put it is “fitness conscious, or she/he is a health freak. Different people understand these terms differently. Some people are just particular about regular exercise but they indulge in eating anything and everything, while some are very careful and choosy about their food while they never go out and make time to do any regular exercise. Some people religiously drink a lot of water while others think it’s strange to consciously count and drink water. It’s just a natural thing that happens as and when they feel thirsty. Also a large number of people spend their life going on and off various fad diets.

1. Here are some simple guidelines to follow if you want to be healthy and eat nutritiously throughout the year. Let us start with water, two and a half to 3 liters water is a must for all, daily. Bangalore is a city with a cool temperature almost throughout the year so one may not feel thirsty. You need to actually measure, count, and drink it. Water helps to keep you hydrated, fresh, active, concentrate better and also helps to flush out all the toxic wastes and pollutants from your body. Finally it also helps to protect you against cancer.

2. The second big rule is to make sure you eat three regular, balanced meals daily. Many people eat 3 times a day but please note fruits for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and soup and salad for dinner are definitely not balanced meals. Every meal must contain both carbohydrate and protein foods. A cereal item like bread, roti, rice, oats or flakes must be eaten along with a protein item from the following list - milk/curd, dhal/pulses, egg or nonveg. Besides this vegetables and fruits must be eaten daily to supply vitamins and minerals.

3. The third rule is the management of foods that are eaten for pleasure and enjoyment. These foods are invariably high in their fat content. They can be called luxury foods or fatty foods. Remember how you spend your money; a wise man does not buy expensive or luxury items daily. We do this occasionally and even when we buy something expensive we don’t spend so much at one time that we don’t have money for the next day. Similarly follow these tips.

1. Enjoy your luxury food, but don’t eat so much of it that you feel sick there after. Eat it but don’t over eat or binge on it.
2. If you eat something rich and heavy or fatty today make sure you don’t’ indulge in another fatty food for at least 48 to 72 hours thereafter. Don’t eat fatty foods for both lunch and dinner in the same day and don’t eat fatty foods on two consecutive days.
3. Finally remember fat takes 6-8 hours to get digested so if you have a choice, go out for lunch rather than for dinner, if you have a box of chocolates or sweets at home that you want to taste, taste it midmorning or after lunch so that you may burn it off before bed time. Fatty food eaten after 6pm will get digested only by 12 midnight or 2am. At this time the body is resting so all these extra calories will be stored as fat.

If we can be street smart with our money we can also be food smart with our eating!!!