Bloated Stomach - Do you feel uneasy after a meal? {Health}

On a good note, I have started taking care of my food habits and even though I am not yet up to the mark, I am better. So, a genuine request to all - never ever unnecessarily skip your meals, any of them. Now, its been a week since I have been regular with my lunches and dinners but initially I started feeling a lot bloated. So, I sat down analyzing what was wrong with my food. 

Acidity Issues

When your body has gotten used to irregular eating habits, regularizing can give rise to many issues, first and foremost being the acidity issue. So, always keep a pudinhara with you though I don't really recommend medicines. But, still. Another way to combat this acidity is to eat less. Yes, always start with smaller portions of food and spend around 20 minutes finishing it off. 

Take lesser amount of proteins and carbohydrates as they are difficult to digest and go more on salads and fiber. A very important and crucial tip which helps with weight loss issues as well. Go lighter on eggs as well as they are heavy for the body. That helps not to make your stomach feel like its gonna burst. 

Rice - Brown or White

Ok, so, I have never been a fan of rice. In fact, I don't like rice except for in very rare circumstances and generally avoid it. I prefer chapatis. And, also, I noticed that white rice makes my tummy bulge a lot and makes me feel not so very easy. Then, I started having brown rice. Well, to my disappointment, even brown rice didn't suit me as its very heavy and makes me feel a lot uneasy. 

So, I decided to cut out rice completely from my diet. And, as soon as I did this, my stomach was happy and very carefree :) So, a little mention here that exercising everyday helps a lot with the metabolism and lesser portion of food is very important to maintain weight and remain healthy. Also, if you are a fan of butters and ghee (like me!!), well, try to reduce it as body needs a lot of energy to breakdown the fat and generally, ends up storing it making you fat!!! 

Those were my observations this past week. What do you think helps with keeping the body light and full?

Image Courtesy:healthcare-online.org

Foods to eat and avoid during weight loss regime {Health}

I had posted about my weight loss resolution a while back. Not that its really working out great but I thought I would do a post on what foods to avoid during weight loss regimes.

Substitute Brown Rice for White Rice

Brown Rice has amazing amount of fiber and nutrition as compared to white rice. You can read about the comparison here. Also, it has amazing amount of health benefits as well. More fiber is equal to increased metabolism of the body and higher rate of fat burning. And, fiber keeps a person full for longer and control the cravings. I have noticed that whenever I eat white rice I always put on weight which doesn't happen when I eat brown rice.

Avoid Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the most dangerous foods when on a weight loss regime. I love potatoes to the core and can't ever avoid them in any form, be it sandwiches or parathas or golgappas :D My mouth is already watering!!! So, try to avoid the huge potatoes and if you have to eat the potatoes, go for the baby potatoes as they are more nutritious and have less starch as compared to the bigger ones. Oh, I forgot to tell you that you can always have baked potatoes.

No Carbohydrates after 6:00 PM

This is one of the most important things to remember. Eating sugar or any carbohydrates after 6 is bound to increase your fat. Because, the carbohydrates and sugar get accumulated and do not get metabolised by the body in the evenings properly. So, say no to pastries and cheese and rice and all the yummy things after 6!!! For dinner, concentrate only on more of the fiber intake so that the digestion is faster and easier.  

Would you like to add anything to the list?

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Brown Rice vs White Rice {Health}

[Source: hindu.com]

Which rice do you like: Brown or White? Two years back, when I actually came across brown rice, I had done some digging up on its benefits which you can read here. Since then, I have had brown rice on and off with the white rice. And, in the starting, I did really find it a little weird in taste and texture but slowly I got used to it and now I actually prefer brown over white.

What's Brown Rice?

For those who never had brown rice, it is the least processed rice and is brown in color. The reason is that the cover of the rice which is a fibre is not removed. That ensures that all its nutritional value is preserved when compared to white rice.

White rice undergoes a lot of processing and polishing which removes majority of its nutritional value and instead makes it harmful for consumption. Look at the figure for the comparison.

White Rice leads to Diabetes

“Higher consumption of white rice is associated with a significantly increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian (China and Japan) populations,” wrote the authors from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. White rice primarily contains starch, as the polishing removes most of the nutrients found in the bran such as insoluble fibre, magnesium, vitamins, and lignans (a group of chemical compounds acting as antioxidants). Insoluble fibre and magnesium, for instance, have been found to lower the risk of Type II diabetes. Unlike brown rice, polished rice has a high glycaemic index (an indicator of glucose-raising effect of a food) and is a major contributor of dietary glycaemic load. Higher dietary glycaemic load is generally associated with the increased risk of diabetes. Hence, the harmful effects of polishing are two-pronged — it removes the nutrients that would cut the risk of diabetes and at the same time pushes up the glycaemic index, thus increasing the risk of the disease. [Source]

So, do you like your rice white or brown?

Brown Rice: Benefits

Brown Rice is a better substitute to the stipulated white rice. Why? Because it comes with a whole lot of health and beauty benefits instead of just helping in increasing the carbs in the body. 

Brown Rice is very useful in detoxification and losing weight. How? Because of its fibrous nature. When brown rice passes through the oesophagus and the intestinal tract, it absorbs all the toxins along with it and flushes them out of your body. Similarly, due to its fibrous nature, it helps you in losing weight instead of gaining. Since fibre is actually just passed out of the system rather than being absorbed, it is mainly useful in taking out the unnecessary waste from the body. Eating more fiber is actually very healthy for the body. It keeps your body metabolism in check and regulates your bowel movements for one. It helps in lowering the cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 

And, the best benefit of all is that it helps you in losing weight. How? Fiber is actually pretty heavy on stomach and takes a lot of time to chew so while you are busy chewing your food, your brain takes time to register when you are full and consequently, you end up eating less food, most of which passes out of your system. So, you can maintain weight. And, since it just passes out of your body, it clears up all the toxins. Thus, it makes your skin look good from the inside. So, next time you think eating rice, look out for brown rice and it is actually more delicious than the white rice too. And, you think of detoxifying your body without giving up the food, you might want to gorge on brown rice.