Healthy Eating Dilemma? Try the Golden Rules...

Want to health up your menu this year, and you are confused whether to count calories or eat clean, be a vegan or restrict carbs? heaps of chaos?  recently, I spoke to my friend who is a clinical nutritionist while she visited me yesterday and gave me some tips on how to embrace healthy eating.What and how much we eat determines our health to a great extend. Ofcourse, exercise is important and we must try to workout at least 3 days a week but this does not give us the license to eat waterer and how muchever we want, we would still need to keep a tab on our plate.

• Be food wise , Train your palate by eating healthy and up your intake of raw veggies.

•  Avoid eating grains/cereals/maincourse directly at the beginning of the meal. make a thumb rule to always start with salads if you don’t, chances are you will end up eating too large a quantity. 

• Choose healthy options for sweet tooth cravings like dark chocolate (refer to my post http://www.randomerscloud.com/2013/11/sinfully-healthy-right-eating-guide.html on how to select dark chocolate).If you are craving sweets at night try fruit teas. 

• Water is the most essential nutrient, and I cannot stress enough on the importance of increasing your water intake. when you experience hunger pangs, immediately drink a glass of water and then proceed towards your snack or meal.

• Do no skip carbs please! yeah, I agree white carbs like white rice, sugar, flour should be eliminated but have complex carbs like multigrain breads, oats, quinoa and whole wheat pastas as fiber is necessary for your body to function properly. 

• Clean your pantry and fridge, try replacing unhealthy snacks to healthy ones. 

• Invest in a good non stick T-fal pan so you do not need to use oil at all and sometimes only a drop. 

• Switch to Olive Oil only! 

• Do meal prep and plan your meals in advance so you do not end up eating junk just because there is no time to fix a healthy meal. 

• Read food labels before buying, pay attention to sodium and sugar content. try to choose organic whenever possible. 

• Make sure you finish your dinner maximum by 8:00 PM. 

• Do not skip meals, try eating every 2- 3 hours instead of eating 3 big meals distribute them into 5- 6 meals throughout the day. 

• Eat slowly, chew your food and enjoy rather then gulping it down. 

• Use smaller plates and bowls, this trick really helps. 

• Try to postpone that extra helping by 20mins, as it takes extra time for stomach to send signals to brain indicating that it is full. 

• Do not fall for “don’t waste food dictum’ because extra food goes either to waste or waist- so you decide. 

Ditch the Gym and Hit Home workout!

Girls let’s face it we always tend to make unrealistic weight loss resolutions and to accomplish that we usually stick to FAD diets and that results into pale face, cravings, mood swing and before the end of the diet we end up binging on carbs and sugar.

While, the best way and the only way i should rather say to lose weight and maintain is by following a healthy lifestyle and working out- believe me girls there is no short cut- I am saying this based on my personal experience, I have been there and done that- seriously.

I consider myself an extremely lazy person and working out is a huge issue for me specially if i have to go deal with diver problems and get stuck in traffic for almost an hour to reach the gym where I would workout for 45 mins well, I would rather ditch the gym altogether and have enrolled at all the great Gym’s at Jeddah but ended up going there only for a week while paying the entire 3 months fee. What a wastage.

I am a strong believer of working out from home, specially residing in saudi arabia - I do not wan tot stress and bother about how I am going to reach the gym, driver problems, traffic etc so I found a couple of nice workout plans which can be easily done from home and most of them have beginner levels as well.

So here is my list

1-) Chalene johnson Turbo Fire

The program is for 90 days and 6 days a week however, the workouts are not too long ranging between HIIT (Hi intensity) to body sculpt and stretches. following the plan exactly for 90 days will give wonderful results but, I just picked up few workouts like the HIIT 15 and 30 min workout which i would do on every alternate day, it made me quite strong and helped me shape up. the fact that the workout is only for 15 mins and 30 mins tops, i was motivated to religiously do it everyday.



2-) P90X

 The P90X has got quite butt kicking workouts as well, I love the cardio X , Kenpo and yoga X, they are awesome, as they are so much fun and easy to  follow plus you know you are making exceptional effort to lose that stern fat. I  stick to these three from the P90X however, they have a complete range of workouts designed for each day. 

3-) Jillian Michaels - 30 day shred

This is a brilliant workout if you want to get in shape without a lot of effort, I agree P90X and Chalene Johnson is a bit too extreme for beginners who have never hit the GYM.


So choose your workout accordingly, it is definitely not one size fits all but find the right workout for you that can easily slide in your lifestyle and suit your body  

Well, as far as my workout routine is concerned i try to keep my sessions fun and stay away from boring routine so i combine all the above and each day is a different workout. 

Some tips- 

Ofcourse working out without eating healthy will give absolutely NO results hence, clean your kitchen and refrigerator from all the crap and, stop eating junk, sugar and carbs- keep it simple with veggies, fruits, lean protein and multigrain breads only.

do not go on FAD diets please!

Try to finish dinner before 8 PM, maximum before 9 PM. 

Go easy on the workouts, do not over do it and do not starve yourself. 

Unresolved Weighty Issues? Should I dial Cambridge Diet for emergency?

Cambridge Diet is the latest fad among Jeddah folks to shed off those heavy  kilos. People have been raving about Cambridge Diet Centre since its inception in Jeddah. Now the knock-out questions are  - Does it work? Will it help me lose weight quickly? Is it safe? 

I guess I can safely pass conclusions as I have tried-and-tested various diets and fads  all my life to achieve that dreamy figure and failingly continue to do till date.  I unashamedly admit that I had somberly given up that I could never be skinny like the poster girls. Honestly, this desire used to be my sole ambition and the one thing I wanted more than anything in my life. I have resorted to all means to fulfill this far and distant objective.

I want to share with you, from my various dieting failures that YOYO dieting is NOT a long-term solution and I will bet my cherished LV on it. Google a bit and it will throw up results where it’s ubiquitously yelled in all caps – ‘stop yoyo dieting and follow a healthy lifestyle!’. Sadly but truly - yet slowly and surely -this is the only healthy way to consistently maintain your weight and eat whatever you want albeit in smaller portions. I will do a separate detailed blog post on healthy lifestyle and vegan diet but for now let me share with you my experience with Cambridge diet.

I had to be in the best shape to fit in my favorite dress for my best friend’s wedding. I toyed with this diet because I had rigorously sweated out on Chalene Johnson’s ‘Beach Body Challenge’ for about 60 days and despair, not lost as many kilos as I had targeted when I set-off this hi-tempo programme. I was running against time and alas registered for another short term FAD diet - Cambridge diet plan.

Astonishingly, the diet does work, and is for real! I stuck to it for a good 10 days and lost about 3 KGS. However, the hurrah soon became a groan - as like all diets, this also came with its sinister side-effects. I felt so sick at many times, and my face had also turned pale like rotten aged-cheese.

The process may seem lengthy initially but trust me it’s worth it. These guys are professionals unlike the rip-offs you find in Jeddah.  On my first appointment, I was asked to see the nutritionist who analyzed my weight, height and eating habits, and based on that she designed a customized diet plan which consisted of three Cambridge diet sachets to be taken daily along with protein and dairy. My prescribed diet plan was as follows

   

        

      

         

Breakfast - Apple cinnamon porridge

 

  

Snack
Skimmed yogurt or 1 cup skimmed milk

   
     

  Lunch
Grilled chicken breast or fish fillet with salad (no tomatoes, no dressing, no oil at all)

Evening snack - Shake

Oriental Chilli soup - the only soup from Cambridge diet that I liked 

 The result- It works! I lost a considerable amount of weight , about 7 pounds in 10 days.the best part of the diet is that the results are visible quickly and  if you want to shed off few pounds real fast then Cambridge diet won't disappoint you 

Best shakes- Chocolate mint and Butterscotch
Best Porriage- Apple and cinnamon
Best Soups - Oriental chilli soup
Best bars- Chocolate and peanut