Get into the mood!

After all that over-indulging in food and drink during the holiday season, it's a good idea to get into a healthier eating regime for a new you

Another new year begins, so does another year of increasing multiple lifestyle disorders - one of the 10 leading causes of death and disability globally. And if that sounds too pessimistic, take a long breath and wake up, it’s time to smell reality. 

According to Jyoti Lalwani, Chief Dietician at the P.D Hinduja Hospital, the situation is grim with India at the helm of being the diabetes capital of the world. “

And in capital cities like Mumbai hypertension is on the rise too. Before any other resolution, people should pledge to put their health at the forefront of everything,” she says. 

“It’s a common fallacy that chronological age is related to health. You could be 70 and still have the body of a 50 year old or you may be 26 and have a body age of 44. It depends on so many factors and importantly, on how you eat,” she adds.” She lists a number of foods that are definite-avoidables in the New Year.

Payal Batra, Nutritionist at Dr LH Hiranandani hospital opines that new-year resolutions just spawn unrealistic weight-loss diets. Crash diets are failures, she says, so are Atkins and Florida diets of the West. Jyoti agrees. “Crash diets try to make you to lose weight quickly but not healthily. There are a lot of people who only concentrate on this weight loss, which is not a prime criteria for health and fitness. It’s more important that the weight lost is genuinely the body fat mass and not the lean body mass or muscle,” she says.

Among the new diet trends that are making their way into Mumbai, one finds the Three Hour Diet, which encompasses eating breakfast within one hour of waking up, eating every three hours thereafter and stopping three hours before bedtime.  The second is the Sonoma Diet, which has evolved from the Mediterranean eating pattern and finally, the Zone Diet which advocates balancing protein and carbohydrate in 3:4 ratios. “No matter what you follow, what is important is to gradually improve the amount of food intake and be more active, adds Payal.

Lalwani says the best way to start is by distinguishing the type of fat a person has - whether it is subcutaneous mass stored below the skin or around the internal organs. “If it is near the trunk regions the chances of lifestyle diseases are greater,” she states. 

With today’s fast-paced life, she says it’s a good idea to avoid quick health meals that one sees on shelves everywhere. “It’s true that people are getting busier but it’s also true that healthy food doesn’t take long to fix. In fact, whoever said these recipes are time consuming or lengthy?” she asks. Introducing antioxidants in the food plan is a great way to begin the healthy eating plan. “They neutralise the effects of free radicals and are naturally found in many foods like strawberries, walnuts, celery, green and black tea, flax seed and salmon,” she says.     

And while cutting calories and eating in moderation is one side of the coin, burning them is another. The new norm, say experts, will revolve around family exercise time. “A good 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise that allows quality bonding time too, will be the positive regiment to take up,” adds Payal.

t_ismat@dnaindia.net