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Diet dos and don'ts: Tips to help keep healthy

Did you know that you should avoid consuming dairy products along with with citrus foods? Or that starving yourself actually makes the body retain fat? These simple dietary tips can make a big difference to your wellness, so sit up and take notice.

• Try to eat your breakfast within one hour of waking up, as it will help speed up your metabolism. Metabolism slows down during the night and breakfast helps kick-start it up again. If you wait longer, your body begins to go into starvation mode and your metabolism begins to slow down even more.
• Eat bread along with the crust, as the crust contains 6 times more antioxidants than the light-coloured innards of the bread.
• Drink lemon juice and honey in warm water early in the mornings, it reduces water retention and helps in digestion.
• Avoid drinking cold water or cold beverages after a meal, as it leads to indigestion: Drinking cold water after the meal solidifies the oily food that you have just consumed. This slows down the digestion. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
• Eat water-filled foods like cantaloupe (kharbooja), watermelon, pineapple, spinach and cabbage as they are low in calories and will make you feel fuller.
• Eat fruits and vegetables with the skins, as there are many nutrients just under the skin. Skins also add fibre and texture to your food. Also, it's healthier to have a fruit instead of its juice -- the juice gives you no fibre.
• Add 1 teaspoon of wheat bran (chokker) per roti in wheatflour to increase insoluble fibre in your diet. Most people think of fruits and vegetables when they think of fibre, but actually it is the fibre in wheat bran that weight loss specialists talk about when they suggest fibre intake. The fiber in fruits and vegetables, though quite useful, is in much lesser quantity.
• Wash vegetables before cutting or chopping to minimize nutrient loss.
• Eat slowly, as it prevents overeating. To slow down, put down your cutlery after every two bites. And chewing well helps to digest food better than just swallowing it -- it helps you avoid overeating.
• Try an occasional fast, as it gives the digestive system a rest and refreshes the senses, mind, and consciousness. According to the Ayurveda, fasting strengthens both will power and bodily health.
• When a breaking fast, avoid eating lots of heavy foods as they can cause water retention, blood pressure fluctuations and toxin accumulation.

Do not combine iron-rich foods with dairy products

• Eat moderately, as the stomach needs working space -- fill it half with food, a fourth with liquids and leave the rest for air.
• When you feel the urge to snack on something, have a sugar-free chewing gum -- it can help to control the appetite, decrease cravings for snacks and reduce calorie intake, while helping to maintain alertness and energy levels through the afternoon.
• Avoid eating fatty foods before a workout, as they are slow to digest and remain in the stomach for a long time. Fat content in the food will pull blood into the stomach because that aids in fat digestion. This can cause cramping and discomfort while working out.
• Avoid eating too many types of food in a single meal, as conflicting foods like dairy products and citrus fruit may upset the digestion.
• Vegetables should be lightly sauted (a method of cooking using small amount of fat in a shallow pan over high heat) to preserve nutrition.
• Honey should not be cooked, as it slows digestion that way. The molecules become a non-homogenised glue that adheres to mucous membranes and clogs subtle channels, producing toxins. Adding honey to a cup of hot tea (not boiling) or salad dressing is acceptable.
• Do not combine iron-rich foods with dairy products like paneer as that leads to nutrient loss. To increase your iron levels, have a lot of citrus fruit -- Vitamin C adds to the iron absorption.
• Consuming too much red meat can lead to hypertension and heart problems hence should be had sparingly.
• Non-vegetarians should avoid dairy products like cheese and paneer along with meat intake. Non-veg food is high in cholesterol, hence it's important to avoid other foods which can have an additive effect on one's cholesterol, like dairy products.
• Choose brown rice instead of normal rice, it helps in weight loss.
• Avoid starvation at all costs, as this signals your body to get into famine mode and it retains fat more effectively.

Don't have tea immediately after a meal

• An all-protein diet with the exclusion of carbohydrates can mess up your digestive system, leading to kidney and liver disorders. Non-vegetarians should eat foods rich in enzymes such as papaya and pineapple to help in the digestion of proteins.
• Instant acidity remedy: Try eating chilled banana, chilled sabudana (sago) pudding or chilled curd. If these foods are unavailable to you then drink lots of water and eventually the acidity will subside.
• High blood pressure home remedy: Eat a clove of garlic each day.
• If you are on a diet and feel like having a snack, eat an apple. If you aren't hungry enough to eat an apple, you aren't hungry enough for a snack.
• Don't have fruit immediately after a meal. It will bloat your stomach with air. It is advisable to have fruits at least one hour before a meal.
• Don't bathe immediately after a meal. Blood flow to your hands and legs increases, reducing the circulation around stomach and slowing down digestion.
• Don't have tea immediately after a meal. Tea after a meal makes protein digestion difficult.
• Do not substitute water with other fluids like coffee, soda, tea and juice. All these contain caffeine which is a known diuretic and will cause fluid loss. Also, the best time to drink water is 1.5 hours before and 1.5 hours after meals. Adjusting water intake to meal-times prevents the blood from becoming concentrated. Concentrated blood draws water from the cells around it.
• Uncooked cabbage restricts the conversion of sugar and carbohydrates into fat and hence helps in weight reduction.
• To decrease the craving for sweets, pop a small piece of jaggery in your mouth after meals.

Skipping meals is bad if you are in your 20s and worse if you are in your 30s

• Saunf (aniseed), methi (fenugreek) powder and laung (cloves) help to balance the blood sugar and control hunger. These spices are also a good source of bioflavonoids that are antioxidants and protect the liver from getting damaged.
• Skipping meals is bad if you are in your 20s and worse if you are in your 30s or beyond. During the 20s, skipping meals doesn't affect your body as your metabolic rate is high and you tend to lose weight faster. But do keep in mind that you will lose out on essential nutrients and your haemoglobin levels will drop. After the age of 30, skipping meals to lose weight has a reverse effect, as your metabolism slows down.
• It's not advisable to check your weight morning and evening everyday, as you will tend to get obsessed about it and start bingeing because food is constantly on your mind. Fix a time every few days or once a week, and monitor your weight. Make it a point to weigh yourself at exactly that time each time.
• For people who are anaemic, cook food in iron pots to increase iron content. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes, broccoli and strawberries increases iron absorption, so incorporate these into your diet. Tea or coffee inhibits iron absorption; so avoid having them with meals.
• Drink a lot of Water. Contrary to popular belief, excess water does not lead to water retention.
• Choose wine, whisky, vodka and rum over beer. Team them with water or soda, not aerated drinks and juices.
• Frequent small meals are better than large meals at long intervals. Having frequent small meals will help you decrease your food cravings and also decrease acidity. Long gaps in meals aggravate acidity and thus you tend to put on weight.
• Avoid tinned foods to keep your weight in check. Processed and tinned foods have high fat content and contain larger amounts of salt and various chemicals added for longer preservation. All of these lead to obesity.
• Avoid excess salt at night, it is harmful for hypertension and even aggravates water retention.
• Pick roasted food over fried food.
• Munching while watching television is the worst thing you can do to yourself. Not only do you eat wrong, you also end up eating much more than required. If you tend to munch, then opt for healthier alternatives like fruit.