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A balanced nutritional diet is very important for our body.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as the body performs all sorts of physical and mental activities, which are tiresome. Therefore, a healthy, low fat breakfast that keeps your body active is essential.

Raw vegetables

Many people hate the idea of consuming vegetables alone, but no one minds eating a sandwich stuffed with a lot of vegetables and sauces.  A sandwich becomes healthier if made from whole wheat bread, which is rich in vitamins, iron, magnesium and zinc. The researchers have found that whole wheat bread plays a major role in preventing diabetes.

Finger millet

Finger millet or ragi is nutritively healthy. The food is not only rich in iron, calcium and protein but is also low in fat. Many dieticians recommend people to include ragi in their daily diet chart, as it helps in controlling blood pressure, heart complications, constipation and asthmatic problems.

Rava upma or suji

Rava aka ‘suji’ in Hindi, rava upma not only fills your appetite but the contents of the dish are highly nutritious. The food is rich in proteins, carbohydrates, vitamin B and iron.

Idli good for health

Idlis are good for health as they have high nutritive value. It is a healthy breakfast snack as it provides carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins, which are needed by the body. It is oil-less food that controls cholesterol level in the body and avoids the problem of high blood pressure. Besides being healthy, the food is easily digestible.

Nutrition of oats

Oats offer a number of health benefits.  They are rich source of carbohydrates, proteins that keeps your body active throughout the day. It reduces hypertension and controls high blood pressure. The energy oatmeal provides you with high energy, normalises blood sugar, increases immunity and helps in preventing cancer.

Eggs

Beaten eggs are simple to cook and good for health. They provide high quality protein along with rich vitamin A, B and E. Eggs help in lowering the risk of heart attacks and preventing cancer. It also improves eyesight and enhances the growth of healthy hair and nails.

Mixed fruits

Fruit salad is a healthy breakfast that consists of different types of fruits mixed together. This mixture of fruits has high nutritional value and provides you with essential vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fibres and proteins. It helps you in losing weight, keeping your skin healthy and increasing your immunity.

Cold beverages

Milk shakes and juices are not only tasty but also good for diet purpose. Health benefits of milk include growth and development of bones and muscles, glowing skin, sharp eyesight and healthy bones and teeth. Milk when mixed with fruits increases its nutritional value.

Stuffed ‘paranthas’

Yummy hot flat bread mixed with different vegetables is rich in proteins, carbohydrates and fibre. Stuffed ‘parantha’ is one of the healthiest breakfast option, as they are healthy, nutritious and low in fat.

Skipping breakfast makes you feel tiresome and lethargic. Eating a healthy breakfast makes your body fresh and fit. It makes you feel better and active for the rest of the day.

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Who doesn’t want to be in shape today? And if well maintained body is accompanied by six pack abs then it is like cream over the cake. You can get six pack abs if you lose fat in the abdomen area and work upon abdominal core muscles. All this might sound simple, but trust me it is a very tough task. Making six pack abs requires a lot of dedication, hard work and patience. There are two steps involved in getting six pack abs:

1. Lose fat
2. Build muscle

This can be achieved by following a proper diet plan and doing exercises daily. You will have to work on getting rid of the layer of fat over your abdomen so that your toned muscular abs comes up.

Do cardio workouts

There is no such thing as target fat loss. If you need six pack abs you need to get rid of the extra fat over your abs. The best way how you can get rid of the fat over your abs is by doing cardio workouts. These workouts increase your heart rate for a certain period of time. Running, bike riding, jogging, dancing and rowing are few of the examples of cardio workouts.

Eat small portions at dinner time

Avoid eating heavy during dinner times as this can hamper your fat loss process. A lot of people are sluggish after they eat their dinner and this leads to fat accumulation. You can rather go in for a bigger lunch or eat some healthy snack before dinner. Try eating fresh fruits or salads before dinner. This will curb your appetite besides providing you necessary health benefits. Having fistful of nuts before option you. Also drink a big glass of water before you sit at the dinner table.

Eat a healthy breakfast

People generally have a tendency to skip their breakfast. This is generally due to lack of time. The danger of forgoing your breakfast from weight loss point of view is that you end up overeating during the lunch time. When you consume a big lunch you tend to feel drowsy after that. This makes your metabolism sluggish and you tend to put on excess weight. Try to eat cereals at breakfast. Cereals do not take any time to prepare. A lot of healthy cereal options are available in the market these days.

Go for weight training

Weight training will enable you to build muscle in your body. This will assist you in losing calories even when your body is at rest. Resistance training is vital to restrict the amount of muscle mass lost even as you cut down your calorie intake.

Keep your metabolism rate stable- Eat small meals after every three hours. This will speed up your metabolism rate and make you lose body fat. Try to include lean protein in your each and every meal. This way your body will not break down your muscles for energy.

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The food we eat is made up of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals. It is measured in calories. These calories get stored in our body as fat deposits. Our genes decide where the fat will rest. The fat deposit could be on the thighs, the back, the waist, hips, stomach the arms or on the whole body. These deposits can take years and years to get off. Careful planning is needed to get rid of them. The ultimate goal of the individual is to get in shape fast.

Natural foods are important to stay in shape

The mantra is to eat natural vegetables and fruits. Stay away from the processed variety. Try to consume foods in the original form. Eat the food with high nutritive value.  The foods eaten should be nourishing and of the organic variety.

Deceptive health foods like the snacks available in the market should be kept away. These health snacks are not of good nutritive quality.

Water is the elixir of life

Try to drink only water, and avoid all other drinks. Aerated drinks, alcoholic beverages or other cold beverages have empty calories in them and should be strictly avoided. Drink at least 3-4 liters of water every day. While exercising, remember to reach out for that water bottle .Water hydrates the body effectively and helps in reducing weight.

Exercise should be made a habit

An exercise habit, in a routine should be followed regularly. Half an hour of exercise should be done daily. Going for a walk, gyming, swimming, or a dance lesson, are the interesting options available. They should be done every day. A routine exercise session should be skipped only if the need arises. Rely on pushups or a small light jog if the time is constrained. Don’t break the habit unless very necessary. All this effort will be evident in the long run when the body shapes up and shows the signs of the hours of labor put in.

The work out time should not be increased, if the results are not instant. Various studies state, workouts for 60 min or more can tear down the muscle and make the fat deposit in the body increase. Weight loss is also influenced by the genetic pool of the individual.  Acknowledge the importance of the role played by the genes. The fitness aim can then definitely be reached realistically.

Exercise support group is a motivation

Exercise can be great fun with company. One should find a regular partner who loves the work out regime. The right partner is a morale booster. Sometimes the exercise pattern should be changed when the weight loss is stagnant. An exercise support group exerts a peer pressure on the individual and provides the motivation to go on exercising.

Opportunities at home should be grabbed daily

Accept that misuse and neglect of the human body for years has made it go out of shape. It hasn’t happened overnight. It will take time to bring it back to shape.

Tap the opportunities at home. One should take the elevator and avoid the stairs. Learn to leave the remote alone and get up to change the channels. Sleep has therapeutic qualities. Sleep gives the body time to recover from the daily exercise shock. One should value rest and sleep adequately.

Strenuous exercise leads to burn out

Do not go for strenuous exercises right away, take it the easy way. There is a lifetime to shape up and be healthy, why burnout the body energy instantly. Take the exercise easy and slow in the beginning and check the stamina later on.

Weight loss target should be marked and chased

Concentrate on the aim of shaping up. Do not set a specific date to see the change in the body. Focus on the wellbeing and the reduction of body weight in the long run.

Amount of Food portion consumed should be limited

Eat five small meals in a day for a healthy metabolism. One should go for a serving rich in fiber. Fiber adds bulk in diet and is healthy. It leaves the individual satisfied and full. Random snacking can lead to the individual eating in excess. Do not eat unless really hungry.

Dining out should be out

Food prepared in food joints is not very high on the nutrition scale. They are prepared with excess fats to make them more appetizing. Holidays should not spoil the attempts to shape up. Unless travel is compulsory try to eat at home.

Sugar- stays away from it

Sugar confectionary and sweets are high calorie unhealthy foods .Avoid candies, pastries, cookies sweets and sugar. Leave them temporarily; at least till the weight goal is achieved.

Salty foods should be left alone

Excess salts are there in processed foods. Excess salt causes the body to consume excess water and then retain it. This retained water causes body to swell giving an impression of fatty deposits. If less salt is taken body looses the extra water retained .Whenever extra salt is taken the weight comes back.

Protein rich foods are a must in the diet

Proteins are responsible for building and restoring muscles in the body. They help in increasing the body metabolism by burning calories .They have the same number of calories as a carbohydrate and help in restoring the depleted body tissue.

Weekends is the time to relax

There should be an incentive on loosing every kilogram of weight. Weekends should be the time to relax and have a treat. One should indulge in a few sweets. Go out for dinner .Have a mini pepperoni pizza. All of this should be done in limits so that it does not hamper the efforts put in to shape up.

Video tutorial for workout at Home

Make the correct food choices and add a few variations to excite your palate. One should limit the quantity of food consumed and never sleep on a full stomach. Now lie back and watch the body shape up.

Two different kinds of diabetes present in the patients

Know about Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, it is generally referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes, takes place when a person’s body is unable to manufacture insulin. It is the hormone needed to control level of blood sugar in the body. Those afflicted with type 1 diabetes need repeated insulin injections to rectify this problem. Patients suffering from type 1 diabetes patients should have consult a qualified dietician to regulate their diet. This is because diet is the key component of their medical supervision. Type 1 diabetes generally hits young people, generally children. Type 1 diabetes is not very common and accounts for just five to fifteen per cent of entire lot of people suffering from this disease.

Know about Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes builds up at a slow pace in the body. It is more widespread than type 1 diabetes and accounts for almost seventy five per cent of people afflicted with this disease. Type 2 diabetes generally happens at later stage in life nevertheless obese children as well as adolescents are also slowly becoming prone to this disease. It is majorly linked to being obese.

Even though the body persists to secrete insulin, generally in big quantities, those who are afflicted with type 2 diabetes do not react to it efficiently. This condition is referred to as insulin resistance. In later stages, insulin production goes down and this shows signs of the beginning of type 2 diabetes. During beginning stages, changes in diet coupled with lifestyle alterations can lead to regulation and also reversal of insulin resistance. During later point in this disease, few people require tablets along with injections of insulin hormone to take care of their diabetes.

One can minimize his or her chances of having type 2 diabetes if he or she maintains regular body weight and is not overweight. Studies depict that people who are overweight and are at danger of becoming diabetic, even if they lose merely 5% of their body weight can cut their chances of getting diabetes by almost half. Despite the fact that diabetes is a problem related to sugar regulation, special control of sugars isn’t required; apart from making sure you take balanced diet on the whole.

If someone has diabetes he or she needs to minimize the risk of contacting related diseases like coronary heart disease, kidney ailments and eye problems. It connotes that shedding excessive weight, keeping the blood pressure as well as blood glucose as at normal level and getting the cholesterol along with tri-glycerides checked on regular basis is a very important thing.

Go for a balanced diet to be healthy

By going for healthy balanced meal you will begin to regulate diabetes by controlling the glucose levels in your blood, blood fats as well as blood pressure. This will also take care of your weight. In case a person is overweight it is vital to reduce your body weight. If you reduce even little weight the chances of contacting diabetes and heart disease will fall down drastically.

One should strike the correct balance between the quantity of carbohydrates and fat one consumes. You should minimize the amount of fat you take in especially saturated fats. This is due to the fact that this kind of fat is related to heart ailments. Go for monounsaturated fats, like olive oil and even rapeseed oil. You should eat a small portion of oily fish almost two times in a week.

Also consume regular meals and eat starchy foods – like bread, rice, chapattis, pasta, potatoes, noodles, yam and cereals. Eat whole lot of fresh vegetables and fruits.

Whether you are a diabetic or not, any adult requires everyday:

• Two portions of protein rich foods such as fish, lean meat, eggs etc
• Minimum five portions of starch rich carbohydrate foods
• No less than five helpings of veggies and fruits
• Three servings of low-fat dairy foods

Consumption of alcohol

Consume alcohol in restraint. A non-diabetic can consume maximum of two to three units of alcohol as far as women are concerned and three to four units as far as men are concerned each day. One should steer clear of binge drinking. Keep in mind that alcohol has calories so you should drink wisely to keep calories at bay. A unit means just a small glass of wine or half pint of beer. In case you consume tablets to keep the blood sugars in control, bear in mind that alcohol lead to heightened chances of hypoglycaemia so one should not drink empty stomach.

Exercise and diabetes

Being fit and energetic minimizes your chances of diabetes. Indulging in physical exercise together with healthy diet averts any long-term difficulties.

Relation between smoking and diabetes

Those afflicted with diabetes are prone to cardiovascular diseases. If you quit smoking or smoke less this definitely is a help and will prevent any complications later in life. People suffering from diabetes require extra treatments along with healthy lifestyle like medication to take care of their diabetes. One can take injections of insulin hormone or even tablets.

Taking care of your diet if you have diabetes

In present times a lot of success has been achieved as regards diabetes, but we still cannot ignore the influence diabetes has on life of a person. It’s vital if you start to carry out changes in your diet as and when you are diagnosed with this problem. Taking care of diabetes is a everyday predicament and has its associated health perils, particularly the augmented chances of heart ailment.

Junk food not only makes you addict to a non-healthy diet pattern but also brings a plethora of diseases for you.

Effects of junk food on health

• Obesity: When people eat more and more junk food, they become prone to overweight. The oils used for frying junk food make you fat and fatter. In the same fashion, fats and processed flour used in junk food tends to make you bulky. Besides, junk food forces you to toss down sodas and colas. These drinks are full of sugar and thus, they increase your tendency to put on weight.
• Lethargy: When you eat processed food, your energy levels lower down and you feel more lethargic. Reason behind this process is that junk food contains high amount of carbohydrates that prickle your blood sugar levels. As soon as your sugar levels start fluctuating dramatically, you start feeling drowsy and tired. Soon you feel less active and alert, and your brain and body starts seeking sleep. In a nutshell, with dulling reflexes and senses, you are forced to an extensively inactive life.
• Diseases: Other than obesity issues, junk food is also related to some of the most lethal diseases. It can result in diabetes and heart ailments. If you don’t exercise regularly and have a family history of diabetes, then junk food is likely to activate the peril of various crucial diseases at an early stage. Secondly, junk food releases some kind of fats that have a tendency of increasing your cholesterol levels. This way, your arteries get clogged up which might lead to heart attack. So, being overweight is a simple welcome note for various diseases.
• Poor nutrition: Junk food snatches the nutrition proffered by your diet. When you starve for junk food, you neglect fruits and vegetables and various other wholesome foods. This way, your body does not get necessary nutrition and you end up with a fragile immune system. Due to this, you become more prone to issues like cold and fever, which can have troublesome effects on your life with the passage of time.
• Constipation and other ills: Processed foods lack fiber content and therefore, you feel constipated after a junk food binge. Moreover, the sodas and colas that accompany junk food contain phosphorous and other chemicals that simply damage your teeth and also chomp away your bones. In a nutshell, your entire skeletal structure weakens and you become more prone to recurrent sprains and fractures.

So, junk is not good for anyone, as it can devastate your life with so many different kinds of illnesses.

How to avoid junk food?

Junk food is now part of almost every person’s diet, no matter which age group we discuss. The habit in some has become so severe that even thinking of kicking it seems tough. Convenient availability, aggressive marketing, pocket-friendly cost and mouth-watering taste are some of the very common reasons that have prompted junk food to become popular and hence, it’s hard to resist temptation. If you are also under major effects of junk food, its habit and are finding it tough to kick them out of your menu, then here are some quick tips to help you plan how to avoid the habit:

1. Start from your home: Yes, start your efforts to avoid junk food from your home. Involving all your family members in your new junk free diet would serve your purpose best.
2. Stock up nutritious snacks, meals and desserts in your refrigerator. Eating healthy at home would help you fight temptation for fast-food.
3. Moderate actions not only help in eating, but they assist on almost all aspects of a person’s life. Immediately withdrawing on something, which you can never resist, can sometimes become very tough. So the best way to stop your cravings from becoming more intense, you can treat yourself once in a week in the beginning, but don’t forget moderation.
4. What’s your craving hours in the day? Every person has different diet routine and thus, they respectively face some hours of the day when they feel most vulnerable to junk food attacks. Try to know your hour of the day and plan your activities during same to help you fight the period. All the best!
5. Fast food corners have some good options for you too: It is really untrue that fast food corners only serve junk food. There are certain good diet-foods also there which include sandwiches without cheese or less mayonnaise, grilled chicken with rice, baked chips, and salads with numerous non-cheesy and healthier dressing, etc. Choose them and get your taste of junk food in your healthy meal.
6. Commit yourself completely for a confident period: Most of us set long-term goals (like 6 months, 1 year, etc.) to follow good diets in our routine but fail in our attempts. Thus, do commit yourself to same but only until the period you are sure you would be able to make up till no matter you decide for days, months or for a bigger phase.
7. Motivational spirit: An action of a person is success only if he has a meaningful and strong motivational spirit. So, try to get good motivational reason behind following a junk-free diet, and help yourself to avoid junk food with an ease.
8. Don’t stop your efforts until you succeed: Though it seems easy, kicking junk is really a tough job. So, even if sometimes you get overindulged, don’t worry and start your efforts again, you will definitely succeed. All the best!
9. Be strict on yourself: Following a good and healthy diet and avoiding junk requires a person to be strict and iron-willed. No matter what junk food comes before him, cookie or any other food item, he must stay firm on commitment. Remember, junk food is junk. Best way of serving yourself is by thinking like a bio-chemist, and you must never forget strictness.

Some studies have shown that hot water improves the blood circulation in the body. Your body immunity is also likely to get boosted if you add lemon and honey to hot water. And well, let’s not forget that it will be tasty to drink as well. Many of us might be aware of the fact that drinking too much cold water is likely to stimulate kidney problems. So why not avoid taking risks and replace cold water by hot water.

If you are still doubtful then there is probably one thing that you can try out. Why not try drinking different bottles of water and then noting down your body’s reaction to it.

You must drink at least 8 glasses of water every day and a glass of hot water before you step in for some physical exercise. This water will be of great help since it will help your body keep the unwanted materials away and also purify it.

If you drink a mug of hot water with lemon before breakfast every morning, it will also help you cleanse your system. Hot water also helps your digestive system function properly. If you want to retain a good and healthy skin, try drinking a glass of hot water every morning before you eat anything else.

Water is very essential for our body, as its lack makes the body engine run down. It is very important to drink about 2 litres of water every day. Your mental and physical performance is likely to get affected if you happen to drink 4-5% of the required amount of water on a daily basis.

The accumulation of toxins in the body can cause dehydration, which may further lead to tension, headache and pain. However, if you drink a lot of water then these toxins can be flushed out of the body.

Several skin diseases can also be averted by drinking a lot of water. Water can also help combat skin diseases like wrinkles, dry skin, eczema, psoriasis and spots.

You can also add a squeeze or slice of these to make it healthier and tastier:

• Kiwi for vitamin C
• Lemon, which is said to tone your kidneys and skin
• Strawberries for sheer indulgence
• Orange for vitamin C