Should You Eat Junk Food?

Junk food is  not healthy and we know it. Eating junk food can almost be compared to the warning sign on cigarette packets. All smokers know its bad for health but yet they smoke. Junk food only provides empty calories to the body without any nutrition. But prolonged consumption of  junk foods can even cause irreversible damage like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart diseases etc.

Some of the universal favorite junk foods are potato fries, salted chips and snacks, candy, sugar, high sweet content food, sweet desserts, fried food products, fast food fried foods and products like sweetened sodas. A lot of food companies are marketing foods like sweetened cereals, packaged soups, biscuits as health products. But if you read the ingredient content you would notice the high sodium, sugar and corn syrup content of these products. This does not mean they are lying . These so called healthy foods might contain some nutrition than others but are still not completely healthy. The similarity between partially healthy and completely unhealthy foods is that they are high in calories that only leads to storage of fat.

Junk food products that are salted are loaded with sodium that increases cholesterol in the body affecting heart health, results in water retention and slowers metabolism.It also causes high blood pressure and hypertension. On the other hand sweets lead to excessive calorie intake which leads to increased blood sugar levels causing type 2 diabetes in the long run. It causes storage of fat and increases visceral fat than reduces the insulin effect. Yet if you reverse your nutrition from empty calories to healthy foods then you would experienceweight loss and better health.

Below are some unhealthy food options  that can be easily replaced with somewhat healthy options:

Cheese Burger with Coke: This is all season snack for us and is so satisfying and filling is what we feel. This is a monster diet when we look at the calories it provides. The combo provides approx 380 from the cheese burger and 210 from an 500ml bottle. The cheese and, high sodium in the burger and sweet in the drink is not so healthy choice.  Instead choose from vegetarian wraps that are made of healthier grain as a good substitute for white bread.

Cholle Bhature: Famous indian food which is combination of chick peas and fortified flour which in high in oil and sodium. Its taste makes you eat more of it which spikes the calorie intake to 170 calories from chick peas and 275 calories from two pieces of Bhature which is deep fried. Why not instead eat sprouts or boiled chick peas with salt, pepper and lemon with a slice of garlic bread.

Potato Wedges with Salsa Dip: The touch of the salsa dip on widgets is mouth watering but is high caloric. Its small size and shallow dips with each bite increase the caloric intake. 380 calories from the wedges and 80 calories from the salsa dip. Drinking some sweetened beverage could further increase the caloric intake as it is high sodium which makes you feel thirsty making you eat and drink more. Instead look for finger foods that have green vegetables in them for better nutrition. Eating grilled vegetables can be tasty too if you are open to giving them a chance.

Hot Chocolate Fudge: Sweet desserts that promise happy moments are certainly not healthy with their calorie intake. One hot chocolate fudge adds 350 calories to your diet. What about eating some dates insted for the sweet tooth? You could drink a cup of cappucino instead. Dark chocolate is healthy and could make a healthier choice. ‘

Cheese Pizza Slice: Dont be confused that sharing a pizza and eating two slices would not be unhealthy. Cheese and the pizza provide nearly 450 calories eating two slices. Some sweets or sodas increase the intake again. Choose veggie or chicken pizza with out cheese. Opt for thin crust, whole wheat pizza without any fillings in between.

Eat to lose weight

Weight loss and diets arn’t really about not eating and starving yourself to burn  fat. You could eat the same quantity and lose weight. Not eating is unhealthy for our body as it effects the immune system and the body’s power to fight infections and slows down the metabolic rate. Would you rather eat healthy and lose weight or not eat and get unfit.

There are certain foods that are low calorie and some foods provide no calories at all. Our bodies require a certain number of calories per day and eating beyond it would store the calories. Usually when we are eating we give less importance to the calorie intake but rather eat till we feel full. So here are food options that will fill you up and keep the calorie intake balanced and low.

Fresh foods: If you want to eat choose natural food options like fruits, vegetables, cereals and pulses etc. The cheese burgers, pizzas, patties, fried foods, heavy snacks, empty calorie food provide less nutrition and are fattening. 1gm of fat provides a lot more calories than whats carbohydrates or protein provide. So changing your habits and eating healthy food will help you consume less calories,keep you full and fat especially which gets difficult to burn.

Fruits and vegetables Salads Read more

Outdoor Activities for Kids

Best thing about being a kid was playing  games and indulging in all sorts of fun outdoor activities. But  gradually the trend is changing, kids these days are hardly seen playing outdoors.  Its important to involve  children in daily physical activities which will help them grow both physically and mentally.  It is becoming increasing important to ensure that the child is being given the right encouragement. As the anecdote suggests, all work and no play makes John a dull boy. Here a few easy tips to get your child started with some fun outdoor activities.

Sports: Develop a interest in a sport or two in your children. Team games will increase competition amongst children for increasing efficiency. Check that he is playing the sport and not hanging around and just watching others. Participating in sports will make your kids more active.

Fun workouts: Children are moody and joyful. They like games, exercises which are fun and not boring. Ask your child which sport he enjoys and support him in his liking for the sport so that he plays it and has fun along with it. Cycling, dancing, skipping are a few that you can get them started with.

Good Habits: Inculcate good habits in your children. Don’t over reward your child for every little achievement he makes. Keep a check on their eating habits and develop their taste buds to nutritious foods rather than burgers and pizza’s which will cause problems in their efficiency and weight gain. ( link it to child obesity link)

Be a Instructor: Children look up to their parents for advices and help. If possible accompany your child for a game and teach him the game. This will increase the interest level and will improve his performance in the game. Proper training and guidance can make him a rookie.

Don’t compare: With increasing competition pressure, we want our children to out beat every one. Don’t pile the pressure on your children. Some children are slow at learning and learn according to their own pace, comparing them might demotivate them. Let your child have his space.

Make learning fun for children with the direction and help them be fit and healthy.

Caution: Child Obesity in India on the Rise

Pizza’s & Burgers  and junk food joints have become a hot spot for children now a days to fill their tiny stomach’s. Well, pizza’s & the burgers taste nice and exciting but are unable to provide the nutrition that is required for healthy living. Obesity in children has tripled in the past two decades and an alarming concern for us to take note of the fact. The rate of development of mind and body in children decreases with junk food due to the empty calories it provides. A regular pizza provides about 600-800 calories whereas a burger provides you with around 300 calories.

A research report written about a study on Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. According to that report 16 % children 6-19 year old are overweight or obese
“this is three times what it was before. In addition, this report brings out the fact that also during this same time period an additional 15% were “at risk of becoming overweight”.

Researchers also warn that children who are fed with junk food have lower IQ than their counterparts who ate nutritious food.  Junk food may fill the stomach but cant provide the quality of energy which nutritious foods provide. Junk foods are high in saturated fat and oil which leads to high cholesterol levels make you feel lazy and drowsy, resulting in lower concentration levels in children. Junk food decrease the efficiency which is important for children. Heart related diseases are growing with obesity and weight gain is normal for people on a junk food diet.

Once the habit is developed for junk food, it gets very difficult to get rid of the addiction. To ensure that kids do not make this unhealthy lifestyle a permanent part of their life one should start inculcating good nutritional habits from the beginning. Ensuring enough physical activities is an equally important aspect of every child’s growth. In case you need professional assistance to get you started on a healthier lifestyle for your family call us for a free consultancy and speak to our expert now.

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Healthy Pizza Options: Eat this, not that

Pizza is generally not the healthiest food around, but we all love pizza, and are definitely going to eat it.
If you’re going to eat pizza, why not make the right choices, so you can enjoy your pizza and not feel guilty about eating unhealthy!

The choices on your pizza can make a big difference in terms of calories, fat content and other factors. Read on to know how you can shave off, up to 400 calories from your pizza! Read more

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Snacking is healthy but are you having the right snack. Most of us sit in office through a major part of the day and often tend to munch on unhealthy food to kill the boredom. Read more to know how to snack healthy in office.

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Valentines Day, the Healthy Way

Are you planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day the usual way- a lavish meal, drinks, gifting chocolates, cakes, and the works. Sure, it seems like the standard thing to do with your loved ones, but is consuming unhealthy high calorie food the real way to show our love for people we care about? We have an idea, to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day without increasing your mid-section bulge.

To show that we care for you, we’re going to help you make this Valentines Day healthy, and help you show your love for people you care, by actually celebrating it in a way, that is really good for both of you! Read more

Pizza makes you fat and sick

Pizza can completely sabotage for weight loss plans? Its actually double trouble with pizza- the ingredients and the portions.

Pizza Ingredients: Most pizzas are made from a base of refined flour (maida), which has a high Glycemic Index, so it spikes your blood sugar and promotes fat storage. Further its topped with plenty of cheese and oil, loaded with saturated fat.  Many use high fat meats like pepperoni and sausage also, again loaded with artery clogging saturated fat and lots of sodium preservatives (increases blood pressure). To make it worse, now pizza bases come stuffed with cheese!

Pizza Calories: Pizza varies in size, toppings .. so one slice of restaurant pizza can vary from 200 calories to 400 calories, loaded with upto 20-25 gm of fat, and plenty of carbohydrates. To burn off a 300 calorie slice of pizza, you need to run almost 3 miles (4.8 km)! Want to know the exercise to burn off one slice of cake.

Portions: Pizza is delicious, so we get greedy and eat more than our healthy portion sizes. Also, pizzas are getting larger. Each slice can itself be a meal. But most of us don’t stop at one slice!

So, to make pizza healthy, here are some healthy pizza recipe tips- use a whole wheat base, for the topping use a home made tomato sauce (not ketchup),  add lots of veggies like sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, olives, baby spinach .. even pineapple is good (let your imagination run wild), use lean meats like chicken, low fat sausage, and top it off with some low fat cheese! With these changes, you could make a healthy low fat pizza. Using a whole wheat base, increases vitamin B and fiber content in your pizza.

To control calories and portions, use small thin crust pizza bases, so each pizza is a serving for one or two people.

If you make pizza the healthy way, you could turn pizza into a healthy muscle meal also!