Category: Diet and Health

321 Quote me— Food Glorious Food

I have been tagged by Kristian and SanaH for the Quote me on FOOD!

Rory of A Guy Called Bloke and K9 Doodlepips has created this tag;

Here are the rules:

• Thank the Selector

• Post 2 quotes for the dedicated Topic of the Day.

• Select 3 bloggers to take part in ‘3.2.1 Quote Me!’

[Please Note Rory will be reblogging your responses unless you ask him NOT to do so.]

And when you combine this love with love for food, nothing gives you more satisfaction.

Julia Child was a legend in her own right. I saw the movie Julia and Julie and it gave me a glimpse into the life of this amazing lady.

I am tagging;

Dr Tanya of Salted Caramel

Kristianw84 Life lessons from around the dinner table

Teresa of The Haunted Wordsmith

In response to;

321Quote me- Food glorious food

#keepitalive

#321quoteme

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MLMM; Tale Weaver #221-Ritual May 2/19

Michael has given us this prompt;

Do you have anything in your life that you consider a ritual. For example do you follow a routine each day, that is part of the way you start or end your day?

Are there rituals in your life that you are part of? They could be religious and or cultural.

Or you could just tell a story in which you explore the concept of ritual.

Go where the prompt leads you and have fun.

My daily walk;

As far as rituals go, this is not something written in stone. I am pretty flexible about it. But it must be a part of my day, about that I am pretty sure.

My daily walk….

Hot or cold, snow or rain, I try to fit in my daily walk during the day. I do try to have it done during the first half of the day, that is, till afternoon because I know from personal experience that the demon of laziness strikes as the day progresses. I can walk outside, on a track, or a road. A park or a green belt is always welcome but not essential. I just need to log in my step, any thing from 6000 to 10000. There are days when I will walk only 4500 steps and there have been days when I did more than 20000 steps( just two, but I did that!). If I cannot go outside, I walk indoors. The hallway, the corridor or in the rooms. I am very adaptable that way.

What happens if I don’t walk?

I feel lethargic and down. But the predominant feeling is of guilt. I feel that I have wasted a day, if I don’t do my daily walk. When I had a couple of fractured bones in my right foot, I couldn’t walk for a few weeks and that really made me realize how important this ritual has become for me. I haven’t lost much weight by walking, well I did initially but not since a long time. But there are a couple of advantages that I have gotten from my daily walk;

1. I feel very active and upbeat during and after my walk.

2. Most of my health numbers have shown an improvement after I have started walking.

3. I have something to say for myself when my family members criticize me for not looking after my health.

I think that as far as being health conscious goes, this is my one saving grace. That I am consistent about my daily ritual.

What are your daily rituals?

And how do you look after your self?

In response to;

Tale Weaver #221-Ritual

please share your thoughts and feedback in your comments.

#keepitalive

#taleweaver

Health care

Speculating about health and fitness seems to a popular pastime these days. Every one has become an expert. Giving advice, propagating theories and postulating on probable outcome of certain regimen is something that lot of people feel well qualified to do. There is a lack of proper professional guidance in a lot of cases and hence the failure of attempts to attain healthy fitness. Most people find exercising monotonous and bore of it quickly if they don’t get results instantly. What does not engages their interest, because drudgery and abandoned sooner than later.

The proper way to attain good physical health is to find a form of exercise that suits our lifestyle. If you can get up early and go for a jog, walk or swim in the morning, it is the best thing to do. Doing some physical work early in the day gives a powerful boost to the metabolic rate of the body, making us burn more calories during the entire day. It also awakens our senses and gives a lift to the mood increasing the feeling of wellbeing. If you are too busy or lazy to find time for your daily dose of exercise in the morning, do not despair. Any time during the day works too. Or even in the evening. You can save on fuel by walking home from work. This will not only help you unwind from work but also would provide the opportunity to burn off those extra calories and purge the system of accumulated toxins. Then there will be no need for chivalrous to people praise you on your slimmed and improved looks. The compliments will be genuine.

Written in response to the following;

Health

Word of the day challenge;

Monotonous

RDP;

Speculate

Your daily word prompt;

Chivalry

#Keepitalive

#FOWC

#RDP

Three Things Challenge PL#16

 

 

A beautiful plate of fresh salad sprinkled with herbs and grated cheese can be a replacement for lunch any day of the week. I love the pre-prepared boxes available in most grocery stores, all ready to eat with a small plastic ford thoughtfully provided in the same package. I specially love those which have a small sachet of nuts to spread on the top. This gives more nutrition to the salad and also satisfies the palate with adding a crunch to the meal. Another easy and nutritious snack/ lunch replacement are the yogurt packs, with fruit and crunchy nuts etc included. I do have some reservations about the sweetened yogurt as the sugar content is quite high.

Round off this meal with a cup of either hot coffee or tea or you can get a drink of cold water or soda. I really don’t get sodas as the caloric count of soda is very high and the carbonated drink makes it the ideal vehicle to be absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream and rise the glucose levels. Even diet sodas are not free from their own harmful effects.

When watching calories it is best to stay away from hot food, at least during mid-day meal because hot food like paninis, pizzas of burgers cause an increase in appetite and we eat more than required.

 

 

 

 

Written in response to;

3TC

filter, keepsake, salad

Keto friendly Almond flour bread

I have said that I will post some keto friendly recipes on my blog.

I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com, but modified it to get the best results.

So here it is;

Almond flour Bread

Ingredients;

Almond flour——-1 1/2 cups

Flax seed flour——-1/3 cup

Eggs————————-4

Coconut cream/ coconut milk——-1/4 cup.

Olive oil——————————————2 tablespoons

Baking powder——————————-2 teaspoon

Salt————————————————–1/2 teaspoon

Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or 175 degrees C.

2. Grease a loaf pan, 4x 8 , lightly with butter or olive oil

3. Mix all the ingredients and whisk lightly.

4. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle sesame or sunflower seeds.

Bake for 20- 25 minutes and check by inserting a tooth pick in the middle. If it comes out clean, take out the pan and let it cool naturally. One it is cool, loosen the edges with a knife and gently lift it out of the pan. The baking time can vary, and can take longer in some cases. Please check after 20 minutes.

The bread should be stored in the refrigerator till it is consumed.

This bread tastes good on its own. But you can toast it in the toaster and make a sandwich with cheese and butter, combined with the meat of your choice.

I wrap my bread in cling film to keep it fresh.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

Perfect keto recipe.

A bonus dessert recipe;

Strawberry with Greek yogurt

Strawberries. 1 cup, sliced

Greek yogurt. 1/2 cup

Heavy cream 2 tablespoons

Unsalted mixed nuts ( cashews, peanuts, almonds ) or any other nuts that you like, 2 tablespoons

You can sweeten this with a few drops of liquid stevia, or xylitol ( a couple of teaspoons) and enjoy it as a desert.

The carbs in this recipe are mostly fiber and net carbs are very few.

#Keepitalive

#Ketolifestyle

#Ketodiet

Devoted to Sun

She is a devout sun lover

Everyday a visit to the sunny beach

For her yoga practice and daily dose

Of fresh air is something that is a must

It’s written as a note to herself, in her mind

Never to miss, never to acquiesce to the laziness

And never resort to excuses for relegating this

To do it tomorrow or another day, for whatever

Else may be important, her health has the most priority

Written for the following;

Your daily word prompt;

Devout

FOWC;

Resort

RDP;

Note

Word of the day challenge;

Acquiesce

#Keepitalive

#FOWC

#RDP

My fitness tracker II

I started my walking journey three years ago. It all started when I brought my fitness tracker, Fitbit. I have to admit that I have not been able to achieve all my fitness goals. I thought that I would but I am still quite a way to my targets. These basically are my weight targets. The target that I have achieved are my walking goals.

My tracker, makes me get up and walk for 250 steps, during at least five hours a day. It reminds me that I haven’t achieved my daily steps goal. If I am a bit short on getting to my goal for the day, there is an encouraging message on my app. And similarly, if I go 25% beyond my goal, I get a well done message. These all motivational messages and prompts keep me on my toes, literally. So when I got my summary for the year 2018, I thought I would share it with you all, as a way of acknowledging the help I get from my Fitbit to achieve my walking goals and also to let people know that if I can walk that much, you can too. We just need the proper motivation.

There are numerous benefits of walking for you. Health, both physical and mental is greatly improved by taking a walk, at least five days a week. There is a boost in the mood levels and confidence of people walking daily. Walking stimulates the blood flow though the brain and you can get many new ideas and maybe solve problems irking your mind.

So put on those walk shoes, which are sitting in your closet and head out. Or if it’s too cold or hot, rainy or foggy, stay indoors and walk in the house. I walk indoor if it’s not a good time to walk outside. The aim is to walk, so do that. Whatever the weather or time.

I wrote this post a while ago, about my fitness tracker and how it helps me with keeping track of my steps, sleep and intake.

My fitness tracker

You can check out this post about walking too!

Walk your way to a better physical and mental health

#Keepitalive

#Walkingforhealth

#Healthyliving

#Goodhealth

Intermittent fasting

Definitely not the pizza, that is not what this post is about.

This post is about the way you should be eating and abstaining from food.

My post today is about intermittent fasting.

Fasting is when you don’t eat for a certain period of time. And intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating food at fixed intervals, and abstaining during the rest of the day.

There are many advantages of fasting.

1. Intermittent fasting is one quick way to get into ketosis. The body, when deprived of food for some time uses up all its stored glycogen, a form of sugar stored in liver. In absence of this source of energy, the body is forced to use fat for energy.

2. For people who find it difficult to abstain from eating at all times, the benefit from fasting are huge. When you are bound to a regimen of fasting and eating at fixed times, the caloric intake is automatically restricted.

3. Fasting helps the body to lose fat as compared to traditional low calorie diets where most of the weight loss is water and then muscle mass.

4. Fasting also improves blood sugar levels and helps regulate insulin levels. There is a marked improvement in insulin resistance as well.

5. Fasting has a beneficial effect on the human brain. When the brain is fueled by ketones, the energy providing chemical in ketosis, the mental process is reported to be quicker and thinking is clearer. It promotes brain health.

6. Contrary to general belief, going without food make the body healthier. The body in absence of fuel, turns towards itself, consuming the sick and cancer prone cells. This rids the body of a lot of threats and toxins and promotes longevity. Some doctors have claimed success against cancer on this as well.

What is intermittent fasting; Or IF

Intermittent fasting is described as a way of eating when you follow a fixed pattern of consuming food.

1. Skipping a meal; The easiest type of IF is skipping a meal. You can either do away with breakfast, or merge it into an early lunch, making one meal out of two. The other option is to skip lunch or have it later, combining it with dinner.This way, you can have the benefit of IF, without too much trouble.

2. Daily window; An other way to do IF, is to improve upon the skipping of one meal by prolonging the time between the last meal of the day and the first one on the next day. It would mean a gap of 6-8 hours between the two main meals of the day, leaving 18-16 hours when you are fasting. It may seem difficult but if you are sleeping more than half of this time, it’s quite easy to accomplish.

3. Alternate day fast; Fasting on alternate day is also quite doable. Eat regularly one day and fast the next day, choosing either the meal skipping or the daily window method.

4. 24 hour fasting; This should not be done in the beginning as it is hard on a system not used to fasting. This can be attempted after consulting a doctor. Eat a good high quality meal, rich in calories and the eat the same time next day. It is also known as one meal a day or OMAD.

What can we have while fasting;

Water, it’s very helpful in maintaining the fast and overall a feeling of well-being.

Green tea can be taken provided its free from sugar and any other additives which can have calories.

Lemon and water mix can be consumed.

Tea and coffee, black, without milk, cream whiteners or sugar. But don’t drink too much of them as they can kick you out of your fasting state.

If you want to know about foods you can consume on Keto diet, you can find all the information here;

Foods allowed in Ketogenic Diet

Waiting for your feedback and comments.

#Keepitalive

#Ketogenicdiet

#Intermittentfasting

Fresh air no despair

It is after the holidays and I am re-blogging my post that about the beneficial effects of exercise on us.

Stepping outside into the fresh air, you instinctively take a deep breath. Just to take in all that wonderful  fresh air. Going for a run or jog in the fresh air has an uplifting effect on us. Exercising and doing workouts releases a brain hormone, called endorphins.

What are Endorphins? These are chemicals released in brain when we exercise for a certain amount of time at a certain intensity.

Also known as feel good hormones, endorphins are great mood elevators. After about twenty minutes of exercise of moderate intensity, our brain starts to release endorphins. This is the cause of a euphoric feeling or the runner high.

These chemicals are produced in our brains to relieve stress and pain. The euphoric and analgesic effect are the main reason why people become addicted to exercise, running or jogging. These chemicals also have a sedative effect and that’s why a good run ,walk or workout gives us a good night sleep.

Endorphins not only have a relaxing effect on our bodies but also trigger a positive and uplifting mental outlook. It chases away the anxiety, despair and depression.

Psychologist and psychiatrist also recommend physical activity for a certain time every day to keep depression and anxiety at a minimum.

So let’s put on our running/ walking shoes and go out to enjoy the fresh air that is going to blow away the cob webs from our minds , chase away the blues and energize our body and brain. It will also stimulate our thinking and bring fresh ideas about writing!

So, Endorphins, anyone?

Let me know how you like my post.

Waiting for your feedback and comments.

#Keepitalive

Photo Credits: Google

Lost

“Hey! You have lost some weight” said my friend who hadn’t seen me for some time. “Yes” I answered a bit smugly. It was no mean achievements, loosing thirty five pound in six months. I was very proud of myself.

“But how did you do it?” She was incredulous. After all I had been overweight since a long time, trying different “diets” and giving them up in disgust as nothing would work after first few weeks.

“You see I have started on this new lifestyle, they don’t call it a diet because one has to change one’s eating habits for life to achieve success ” I told her. “And what is this lifestyle called?” She was still skeptical.

It’s called ketogenic lifestyle. Now I had caught her interest. She had heard of this keto diet, as people were calling it, and wanted to know the details.

I told her all about it. The highlights were to stop eating carbohydrates, if not altogether, then to bring them to a minimum. Just vegetables which are practically starch free. ” You mean to say that you had to leave all carbs, like bread, pizza and dessert.” She still couldn’t believe it, that a carb junky like me could give up pasta, breads and all other yummy carb rich foods.

As I explained to her the mechanism through which this diet/ lifestyle change works, she was finally convinced. Even to the extent to give it a try herself.

And do you have to exercise a lot, she wanted to know. I just have a daily walk for an hour or so that is enough for me.

If you want to know about Keto diet/ ketogenic lifestyle, you can check my posts about it on the following;

My keto journey 

Do’s and Don’t’s of keto

Foods allowed in ketogenic diet

Written for;

Your daily word prompt;

Lost

FOWC;

Leave

RDP;

Walk

Keepitalive

#Ketogenicdiet

#Weightloss