One of the most important and effective factors in our dieting is to savor or enjoy our food. If we smell something delicious, we activate our salivary glands, which in turn make us feel hungry. We should remember that it is the saliva that helps us break down the food that we put into our mouth. After the food reaches our stomach, we are able to digest it more effectively, thus by getting more nutrients out of it. However, if we don’t enjoy our food, we won’t be able to salivate as much as we should and that factor will reflect in indigestion and the inability to get the most value from our food. Thus, it is very important to enjoy our food. I realize that eating home cooked food over and over gets boring and leads to the state where one can’t enjoy the food anymore. To combat that you can always change the way you cook or adopt new recipes and styles of cooking. Also, it is ok to treat yourself with some outside food once in a while but select you dishes wisely. The variety will definitely help you to relish your home cooked food more often.
One of the most important and effective factors in our dieting is to savor or enjoy our food. If we smell something delicious, we activate our salivary glands, which in turn make us feel hungry. We should remember that it is the saliva that helps us break down the food that we put into our mouth. After the food reaches our stomach, we are able to digest it more effectively, thus by getting more nutrients out of it. However, if we don’t enjoy our food, we won’t be able to salivate as much as we should and that factor will reflect in indigestion and the inability to get the most value from our food. Thus, it is very important to enjoy our food. I realize that eating home cooked food over and over gets boring and leads to the state where one can’t enjoy the food anymore. To combat that you can always change the way you cook or adopt new recipes and styles of cooking. Also, it is ok to treat yourself with some outside food once in a while but select you dishes wisely. The variety will definitely help you to relish your home cooked food more often.
Food that is no longer fresh constitutes as spoiled food in the diaries of most nutritional experts. Food that has been cooked and then preserved for more than 24 hours often loses some of its mineral properties with time. We need to understand that the way we cook our food also causes the loss of vitamins and minerals. To add to that, we preserve our food in refrigerators and heat it again. This process leaves the food we consume with very little nutritional value for our body. Other foods that qualify as spoiled foods due to irradiation, preservatives and use of chemicals must also be avoided. Try buying and consuming organic food as much as possible. “Under organic production, the use of conventional non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides is greatly restricted and saved as a last resort.” In my personal opinion, I would also try to avoid the use of microwaves. Very little research has been conducted on this subject of heating food in a microwave and it would be better to utilize this machine as less as possible.
Do you know why most Chinese people have stayed so fit and healthy over the course of their life? One of the various reasons is that they often consume bean sprouts and grains along with rice and noodles or as a side dish. Sprouted beans, grains and seeds are an inexpensive way to eat nourishing and fresh food. Bean sprouts are especially high on antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and also contain no fat calories. But the main feature of sprouts are highlighted through its anti-aging properties which is why sprouts is one of the most nutritious and inexpensive food known to mankind. Sprouts are also easily grown at home as they only require a small container and good quality seeds. Always use organic seeds to grow sprouts as they produce better quality sprouts which are high on nutritional values. Some excellent beans or grains to sprout are Alfalfa and Sunflower seeds. Both these seeds are a high source of nutrition and should be consumed daily if possible.
Most nutritionists recommend a well balanced diet which consists of the following: -40-45 % of vegetables which also include the consumption of fruits.
40-45% of grains or carbohydrates. Indians usually fulfill this requirement through rice or rotis.
The rest 10-20% can constitute of rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, sugar and oil.
A little “junk food” once in a while is pretty insignificant to your health. Although, you should to be careful in your food selection process. It is always better to pick up a bar of chocolate rather than a bag of chips. The main issue in our selection process is that most of us have increased the allotted amount for rich food. This factor is the main reason why heart diseases and diabetes are on a all time high in most countries all over the world. Keep a balanced diet and eat what your heart desires, BUT in moderation.
A balanced diet ensures harmony of the physical, spiritual and mental health. We all same the passion to enjoy and savor our food but very few of us know that each item of food possess unique properties and qualities to enhance our life; there is food for longevity, food for cooling you down or heating you up and food for increasing your energy or soothing you down. We all recognize that a balanced diet should constitute an appropriate amount of vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals, essential fatty acids and proteins. But we fail to focus on various other aspects of food, i.e., the balance of food proportions, the taste and also the temperature of the food. All these factors equally play a vital role in our dietary health. If we know these properties of food and know how to alter them according to our requirements, we can not only cure diseases through the intake of food, but also prevent them.
We are all victims to what we train our mind to do and that process eventually becomes a process of habit. If we follow a pattern of bad diet and eat food at will, then the mind records our programs to eat whenever the heart or body desires. This process also adds to compulsive eating, where we simply intake food in response to certain emotions or stimuli. For example, most of us have the habit of munching some kind of junk food (preferably packaged potato chips or popcorn) while we watch a movie. To make matters worse, we tend to quench our thirst with diet and flavored sodas. Compulsive eating also takes form when we feel sad or depressed, as we replace the sadness with the enjoyment of eating food, mainly via chocolates and ice-cream. To overcome this habit of eating in the wrong situation, we need to train our mind to respond to the stimuli with a different course of action. For example, if you watch a movie, try not to eat at all and replace your drinks with mineral water. When you’re feeling depressed, try to go for a walk or jog instead of being alone at home. Don’t overcome any factors that drive you to eat except your stomach. This practice takes discipline as habits are not easy to conquer but where there’s a will, there’s always a way.
Dieting is the practice of controlling what food you intake in order to achieve a desired result, i.e., maintaining or losing weight. Though the main purpose is to lose weight, dieting is also helpful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The difference is that one can also diet to increase weight or improve his/her health if required. Most people misconstrue that dieting means to reduce the amount of calories and lose weight as soon as possible. This misconception often results in temporary weight loss and furthers health complications. A diet must be designed in such a way that it allows you to obtain all the vital minerals and vitamins required by your body. Apart from this, your body also requires essential fatty acids that can actually help the body in removing bad cholesterol. Bad cholesterol usually deposits along the arteries and over a period of time the problem magnitudes into various heart diseases. The primary function of these fatty acids is to divert this bad cholesterol to your liver, where it is then excreted. Thus, if you plan on dieting, do not avoid the food that your body needs to develop and maintain your system. Consult a dietician before you begin this vital practice.
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