Pak Friends: May 2010

7 Easy Ways to Lose Weight Without Starving or Breaking a Sweat

1. Fidget
People who tap their feet, prefer standing to sitting, and generally move around a lot burn up to 350 more calories a day than those who sit still. That adds up to nearly 37 pounds a year!

2. Keep most meals under 400 calories
Spacing out your meals at regular intervals and keeping them all about the same size. Eating meals at regular intervals has been linked to greater calorie burning after eating, better response to insulin, and lower fasting blood cholesterol levels. When you eat regular meals throughout the day, you're less likely to become ravenous and overeat.

3. Take yourself off cruise control
Increase the intensity of your everyday tasks, from vacuuming to walking the dog,
"Turn on some music, add in some vigorous bursts, and enjoy the movement."

4. Drink 8 glasses of water per day
Water is not just a thirst quencher--it may speed the body's metabolism. When drinking water, no calories are ingested but calories are used, unlike when drinking sodas, where additional calories are ingested and possibly stored," Increasing water consumption to eight glasses per day may help you lose about 8 pounds in a year, so try drinking a glass before meals and snacks and before consuming sweetened drinks or juices.

5. Step it up--and down
Climbing stairs is a great leg strengthener, because you're lifting your body weight against gravity. In addition to taking the stairs at every opportunity, try stepping up and down at all possible opportunity.

6. Use grocery bags as dumbbells
Letting someone else load your groceries or carry your suitcase is an opportunity missed for strengthening and calorie burning. Carrying your own bags help burn calories and tone Muscles.

7. Eat 4 g of fiber at every meal
A high-fiber diet can lower your caloric intake without making you feel deprived. Experts see a number of mechanisms through which fiber promotes weight loss: It may slow down eating because it requires more chewing, speed the passage of food through the digestive tract, and boost satiety hormones. To get 25 g of fiber a day, make sure you eat six meals or snacks, each of which contains about 4 g of fiber. For to-go snacks, buy fruit; it's handier than vegetables, so it's an easy way to up your fiber intake. One large apple has just as much fiber (5 g) as a cup of raw broccoli.

Sharing as received...It is a research..a view point nevertheless...so do think about it.

Eat Less Rice!

The human body was never meant to consume rice! You see, our genes have hardly changed in more than 30,000 years. However, our food choices and lifestyle have changed dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognise our food or way of life.

Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you can eat without treatment with or by fire.. He ate fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs, nuts and meat. Yes, even meat! You can even eat meat raw if you were starving in the forest. You have the necessary enzymes to digest meat.
However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be eaten raw. It must be cooked. Even if you were starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the raw form. This is because we do not have the system of enzymes to break rice down. You were never meant to eat rice. To make matters worse, you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of your food.

In some parts of Asia , rice forms up to 85% of the plate. Even if you take rice, keep it to a minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue - not your body. Actually, rice and other grains like wheat and corn are actually worse than sugar. There are many reasons:
Rice becomes sugar - lots of it!
This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny: rice is chemically no different from sugar. One bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. This does not matter whether it is white, brown or herbal rice. Brown rice is richer in fibre, some B vitamins and minerals but it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you need to consume lots of kangkong-10 bowls of it.
Rice is digested to become sugar.
Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar within half an hour-almost as quickly as it would if you took a sugar candy. Rice is very low in the ' rainbow of anti-oxidants. '
This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary for the effective and safe utilisation of sugar. Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However, they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed with a whole host of other nutrients that help its proper assimilation and digestion.
Rice has no fibre.
The fibre of the kangkong fills you up long before your blood sugar spikes. This is because the fibre bulks and fills up your stomach. Since white rice has no fibre, you end up eating lots of ' calorie dense ' food before you get filled up. Brown rice has more fibre but still the same amount of sugar.
Rice is tasteless-sugar is sweet.
There is only so much that you can eat at one sitting. How many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you feel like throwing up? Could you imagine eating 10 teaspoons of sugar in one seating?
Rice is always the main part of the meal.

While sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal. You could eat maybe two to three teaspoons of sugar at one meal. However, you could easily eat the equal value of two to three bowls (20-30 teaspoons) of sugar in one meal. I am always amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls of rice (equals 50 teaspoons of sugar) and then asks for tea tarik kurang manis!
There is no real ' built in ' mechanism for us to prevent overeating of rice:
How much kangkong can you eat?
How much fried chicken can you eat?
How much steamed fish can you eat?
Think about that!
In one seating, you cannot take lots of chicken, fish or cucumber, but you can take lots of rice. Eating rice causes you to eat more salt. As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more salt-another villain when it comes to high blood pressure. You tend to take more curry that has salt to help flavor rice. We also tend to consume more ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich in salt.
Eating rice causes you to drink less water.
The more rice you eat, the less water you will drink as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating of rice. Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up in other foods that substitute rice like rice flour, noodles and bread. We tend to eat the hidden forms which still get digested into sugar.
Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest.
Can ' t eat raw rice? Try eating rice half cooked. Contrary to popular belief, rice is very difficult to digest. It is ' heavy stuff ' . If you have problems with digestion, try skipping
rice for a few days. You will be amazed at how the problem will just go away.
Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins and minerals.
Rice when taken in bulk will reduce the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron and the B vitamins.
Are you a rice addict? Going rice-less may not be easy but you can go rice-less. Eating less rice could be lot easier than you think. Here are some strategies that you can pursue in your quest to eat less rice:
Eat less rice-cut your rice by half.
Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises ' eating rice like spice ' . Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables. Take more lean meats and fish. You can even take more eggs and nuts.
Have ' riceless ' meals.
Take no rice or wheat at say, breakfast. Go for eggs instead.
Go on ' riceless ' days.
Go ' western ' once a week.
Take no rice and breads for one day every week.
That can ' t be too difficult. Appreciate the richness of your food. Go for taste, colours and smells. Make eating a culinary delight. Enjoy your food in the original flavours.
Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup.
You will automatically eat less rice.
Eat your fruit dessert before (Yes! No printing error) your meals.
The fibre rich fruits will ' bulk up ' in your stomach. Thus, you will eat less rice and more fruits..
It ' s your life.
Decide what you want to eat!
But eat less rice!