Watching your waist line grow does not mean that you spend every moment on the treadmill or on the elliptical machine. It has been seen that losing weight is the resolution that most women make and find it difficult to achieve. They make drastic changes in their lifestyle and hence are not able to stick to their regime. Like, some women eat nothing but raw food, or only liquid food or they schedule their exercise regime at 4 am everyday and set themselves up for failure.
It is important to remember that losing weight need not be difficult, if you make the right alterations to your diet.
Here are a few diet rules that can help you lose weight easily.
Rule 1: Make practical changes in your diet plan
It is important to formulate a diet plan that can be practically used in our day to day life. It is essential to learn which food is beneficial and can support your weight loss regime. You also need to consider which foods can be harmful and else. Your weight loss plans can take a dive if you do not monitor your eating habits.
It is important to remember that total deprivation does not work. Meals can be made healthy and tasty if you choose the correct ingredients and alter the recipe to increase its nutritional values.
For instance:
1.If you love to eat Pav bhaji, you can prepare the bhaji at home using only boiled vegetables and omitting the potatoes. Similarly you can also cut down the fat content by using olive oil or any other oil instead of the butter. Skip the additional butter that is used while serving the bhaji. Your healthy pav bhaji is ready to eat. You can use brown bread instead of the pav to make it nutritious. Believe me you family would enjoy the pav bahji and you will be happy that you had a healthy version of the pav bhaji.
2.
Similarly, you can have a healthier version of masala dosa. You can make the dosa batter healthy by adding 1 table spoon of ground oats powder to every 2 cups of dosa batter to increase the fiber content. You can also make few changes in the masala that is specially prepared for the dosa. The traditional recipe uses potatoes as the main ingredient. You can alter the recipe and add finely chopped vegetables like carrots, beans, peas and onion to make it healthier. You can prepare the dosas on a non stick pan so that it uses very little oil, yet becomes crisp.
Making slight variations in your regular meals will keep you motivated to your diet regime and you will be able to follow this regime for a longer duration and gain visible results that are permanent.
Rule 2: Plan a healthy diet
You can lose weight through diet if you limit your carbohydrate intake in favor of a little more protein. Well Known Nutritionist Patricia Sadri says, “Protein can provide most of the energy needs of the body, therefore it can substitute for large carbohydrate intake. Protein increases muscle mass in the body which unlike fat mass causes burning of more calories at a faster rate, thereby contributing to weight loss.”
It is important to have a healthy breakfast which would include complex carbohydrates. Patricia Sadri adds, “Breakfast that is low in calories and carbohydrates but high in protein is a good way to start the day. However, do not completely stop your intake on carbohydrate; after all they too have a significance of their own. Carbohydrates are needed as they are the basic form of fuel to the body”
Breakfast Diet Tips
- You can have whole wheat sandwiches with lots of fresh vegetables like cucumber, onion, tomatoes, capsicum. You can grill the sandwich for a variation. Non vegetarians can have egg sandwiches.
- Having oats or muesli with skimmed milk or whole fruits help you fill your tummy and provide you the required energy Patricia Sadri says, “Oats & muesli have high fiber content. Fiber tends to bind water present in the food and causes slow digestion due to which one may feel full (satiety) for a longer period and therefore may not have the urge to eat more than required. Fiber tends to combine with sugar and fats in the body (especially cholesterol) thereby preventing absorption of cholesterol into the body. Also, fiber provides bulk for normal bowel action.”
Lunch and Dinner
- If you are a rice eater you can switch to brown rice or alternate it wheat chapattis.
- It is important to have a salad without any dressings before your lunch and dinner. You can be creative and make variations with the salad.
For instance:
a) You can grate the carrots, finely chop onion, tomatoes, capsicum and add it to the whisked curd. Season it with salt, black pepper, cumin powder and have healthy salad ready.
b) You can also make a healthy salad with steamed sprouts, finely chopped cabbage, tomatoes, onion, coriander and salt, pepper and limejuice to give it that tangy flavor.
- You can have a bowl of pulses or dal and a serving of mixed vegetables,
You can also skip the ghee or oil over the chapattis to reduce the fat content
