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. 

Tasteful Tuesday with ActiFry

Best Kitchen Gadget Ever!

As you all know by now that I am a relatively healthy eater, well at least I try to be one .But, honestly  fried chicken and fries really are a huge obstruction on my way.  So, one fine day I found a healthy appraoch to satisfy my craving for fries  without sacrificing on taste. Yes, I found my magical appliance pretties- "Tefal ActiFry". If you're an avid fries lover and the thought of  greasy fries starts to turn your stomach, then Tefal Actifry could be the answer...

So, what makes it healthy? 

It is that the fryer uses 1 tablespoon oil to fry about 1.5 kgs - seriously! isn't that amazing. the fat content is far less definitely. Here is my recipe of how I prepared yummy guilt free fries in ActiFry. also, oil is not required at all if you use frozen items, but as I am a clean eater hence, I stay away from frozen stuff. 

Ingredients 

• 4 large Potatoes 
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Peel potatoes with a peeler and cut them in equal size of thickness.

• Rinse thoroughly in water and drain well.

• Try to dry them completely by wiping with kitchen towels.

• Place fries in Actifry, measure out oil using the green measuring spoon drizzle over fries.  

• close the ActiFry and set the time for about 25- 30 mins.

• It is best to keep an eye on the cooking every 5 mins initially once, you get the hang of it, you will know the exact time taken.( cooking time varies, depending on the thickness and the amount of the fries)

• Cook it until its golden brown, unless you like your fries a little soggy. 

• Once done, serve with salt  and yes your guilt free fries are ready! Bon Appetite 

If your new year resolution is to start a healthy lifestyle then Tefal Actifry will be your BFF...

Disclaimer - This is a non paid review.

Sinfully Healthy - Right Eating Guide

I am like this diet police who keeps a vigilant eye on not only what I am eating but on people around me as well, I know I am that annoying friend, wife, daughter, sister who speaks up seeing anyone take a bite of unhealthy or unhygienic crap. I am a morning person who can never leave home without my morning fuel and I religiously eat breakfast and by breakfast I do not mean on-the-go apple or milk but a complete balanced morning meal. 

The funny thing is, people who struggle with weight usually skip their breakfast and the fit ones never compromise on their morning meal. However, at the same time if you are trying to lose weight by healthy eating, it is essential that you watch out your breakfast plate.

In my sinfully healthy section today I am going to give you insights on how to avoid some common mistakes in your breakfast meal so that you do not mess with the numbers on your scale 

A glass of Orange juice 

This might be your staple breakfast but a reality check here, juice contains higher sugar level than the actual fruit, since the fiber is lost in extracting it. Juice literally is a glass full of sugar water, so swap that glass of orange juice with real fruit which will keep you full for longer.

Wheat Cereal -

A bowl of cereal is surely nutritious, but if you end up having more than 1 portion size of that cereal, then it is everything but healthy. Try  instant oats instead, oats have far lesser calories than cereal so you can have more then one serving with skimmed milk plus it makes you feel full for a longer time.

Breakfast bars-

Stay away from those breakfast bars, if you do not want to widen  your belly , they are full of sugar and all the junk. if that is your fix for on-the-go breakfast then why not try a healthier solution and have low fat milk with some nuts and fruits like apple or  banana.

Digestive biscuits-

I know a colleague who would binge on digestives since she felt they are whole wheat hence healthy. girls, just because it is whole wheat or sugar free, that does not give you the license to eat how much ever you want. If two digestives do not make you feel full try switching digestives with brown or multi grain rusk, just one multi grain rusk is quite filling.  

Sinfully Healthy - Right Eating Guide

Every girl's fantasy would be to not gain weight even after living on cupcakes or chilli fries. Snap! Dream is over girls as in the real world this does not happen. Hey! but here is the catch you don't have to kill your cravings but just choose smartly.And to guide through this, I am presenting my weekly "Sinfully Healthy" section in which  I will share some common dietary mistakes that we all do however,  if we choose smartly we can cut down on bad food and gradually embrace healthy lifestyle...so girls it's all bout choosing wisely.

Dark Chocolate

Just because its dark  does not necessarily mean its healthy, choose that has maximum levels of cocoa and check out the nutrition label if it says "processed with alkali" that means you need to dump it back to the supermarket shelf. look for chocolate bars that have 70% minimum cocoa , the safest bet are Lindt 70%- 85% cocoa bars and Green and Black's organic that have 70%- 80% cocoa. you can easily find them at Danube or Manuel. 

Take care and stay away from making wrong choices and while filling in the weekly groceries, just have a careful look at the nutrition label at the back of the chocolate bar if it is processed with Alkali then it is an absolute NO NO.

Reduced fat peanut butter

The biggest mistake we often commit is to pick up that jar of reduced peanut butter from the diet section shelf of Danube, isn't it just so tempting. Alert! drop that since, the fat in peanut butter is good and when the fat level is reduced , sugar is added to bring back its lost flavor. Look for natural peanut butter that should just contain peanuts and salt. of course the best way is to make your own peanut butter at home , its easy peasy ( stay tuned, I will post the recipe soon) 

That's all for now, until next week- stay healthy and choose wisely.