Healthy Eating Tips for Working People

Working people generally do not have time for breakfast, may skip meals or go without eating for long hours leading to gas, acidity, nausea & bloating, and may end up eating out a lot causing obesity. They frequently complain of gaining weight in spite of hardly eating anything! It's happened to me, I'm sure it's happened to you at some point as well.

I came across a few eating tips for working people that I'm listing down here. They're supposed to help us stay healthy, feel energized all day and keep problems of gas, acidity, nausea & obesity at bay. So read on for whatever it's worth...

• Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This has only been said, like, 1,567,242,000 times! And not without reason. After 10-12 hours of fasting (during the night), your body needs breakfast to kick-start your metabolism. Missing breakfast will slow down your metabolism for the rest of the day, leading to weight gain. A hearty breakfast (please note by 'hearty' I don't mean the alu paratha with butter kind of breakfast!) will help keep hunger pangs in control and prevent binge eating later on in the day. Breakfast is also essential to keep your brain alert throughout the day. And no, skipping breakfast will NOT make you thin.


• Simply having breakfast is not enough. It needs to be balanced. A healthy breakfast should ideally consist of high-fibre foods such as unsweetened oats/bran/muesli with milk (use honey, jaggery or fruits as a sweetener instead of sugar), fruits (preferred over fruit juice as juices don't retain the fiber) and some form of protein such as egg whites or yogurt. A balanced breakfast will keep you satiated for a considerable amount of time.


• Eat small meals at regular intervals through the day, rather than 3 big meals. This will a) ensure a steady release of insulin in the blood, b) prevent gas, acidity & bloating, and c) assure your body of a steady supply of fuel so it does not store fat.
• If you anticipate a late lunch/dinner, keep some healthy snacks such as fruits, vegetables that can be had raw (such as carrots, cucumber etc.), dry roasted nuts, low fat yogurt etc. handy. This will ensure that when you finally get to your meal, you won't binge.
  Avoid snacking on chocolates, chips, biscuits (particularly cream biscuits) or cup-o-noodles.
• When thirsty, opt for water, fresh fruit juice or nimbu paani instead of dialing your canteen and asking the canteen boy to bring you a bottle of soft drink. Aerated drinks can cause excessive bloating and contain a lot of sugar!
• Restrict the amount of tea/coffe you drink in a day to 2-3 cups.
• Sip on hot water or green tea after a meal. Hot water helps in digestion and I've heard from a lot of people that it's helped them shed some weight as well. It'll take some getting used to but I think it's worth the effort! Green tea as we all know is an excellent anti-oxidant, and for those who don't want to add up on the caffeine, there's de-caf green tea available in the market as well!

Photo Courtesy: www.newdietfitness.com ; www.venere.com

Soy Ahoy!

Soy milk, produced when soybean is ground and mixed with water, is supposed to be an excellent substitute for milk for people who are lactose-intolerant or vegans. Soy milk is also supposed to be more nutritious than dairy milk - it has as much calcium and more Vit A & D and fiber than dairy milk - without the lactose, cholesterol & saturated fats of milk.

Soy milk is a great source of protein, Vit B1, B2, B6 & magnesium. It is an excellent choice for people trying to lose weight as it is devoid of cholesterol, saturated fats and is high in fiber.

The other purported benefits of soy milk are:

• It contains prebiotic sugar that boosts immunity and helps decrease toxicity
• Being low in saturated fats & cholesterol, it can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease
• It contains 'isoflavones' that are believed to help reduce the risk of certain cancers, lower cholestrol levels, ease menopause symptoms, prevent osteoporosis & reduce the risk of certain types of cancers, particularly prostate & breast cancer
• Soy milk contains only vegetable protein which cause less loss of calcium through the kidneys

Non-flavored soy milk is rather unappetizing, though you may just like its peculiar taste, but there are a number of flavors available in the market today, such as vanilla, strawberry, chocolate etc. 'Soyfit' is one of the brands widely available in Indian metros.

(Photo courtesy : Kolkata Mirror)

Go Tomatoes!!

Here’s some good news for tomato lovers…tomatoes help in shedding excess weight & staying trim.

According to a research done at Reading University (UK), tomatoes act as a natural appetite suppressant, making it easier to resist the urge to snack. This could be because consuming tomatoes changes the levels of ghrelin, an appetite-regulating hormone in the body, though this is yet to be explored scientifically. Lower levels of ghrelin tend to make us feel full.

What is know about tomatoes is that they are rich in fiber, and fiber boosts satiety.

The other health benefits of tomatoes are as follows:

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant, and protect against a number of cancers such as colorectal, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers.

They’re a very good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Potassiam & Folate, all of which help reduce the risk of heart disease & stroke by lowering the level of cholesterol & preventing damage to the walls of blood vessels.

Tomato juice is also known to be a natural anti-inflammatory & a good source of Vit K that helps maintain bone health.

More information on the nutritional properties & health benefits of tomatoes can be found here.

Tone Up!

Here are some easy tips for losing weight and toning up your abs, legs & back. I recently read them somewhere. They do not require enrollment at a gym and can be done at home or outdoors.

• Walking briskly or jogging for 30 minutes daily.


• Whenever possible pulling in our stomach as much as we can, holding for a few seconds and releasing. This is a great way to tone our abs. Similarly, squeezing and releasing our butt will help in getting firmer hips.


• Lying on our back with our feet raised up towards the ceiling (at an angle of 90 degrees to the floor), lifting our hips towards the head in a back & forth movement will tone up lower abs.


• For some of us, our body tends to store fat on our back. To lose that flab, lie down on your stomach, facing downward. Place your palms on your back below the waist. Slowly pull your shoulders up and back, keeping your feet on the ground. Repeat 20 times.


• To firm your legs, stand with your hands on your hips or resting on a wall (for support). Raise your right let to the side of your body as high as you can. Keep your back straight. Bring your leg down without touching the floor. Repeat 20 times. Do the same exercise with your left leg.


• Drinking 10-12 glasses of water daily helps flush out the toxins from our body and give us a glowing complexion.


• And of course, easier for some but very difficult for most of us - avoiding sweets and fried food as much as possible :)

Drink Your Way to Fitness

Tons of people swear by the efficacy of honey & lemon juice in warm water in helping aid weight loss. I read somewhere recently about why this concoction might work and what other purposes it serves, and would like to share it here...

The key ingredient in this mix is the water. Research shows that drinking water as soon as you wake up in the morning, raises your metabolic level significantly. This works because through the night, our body is deprived of water, and since our system uses water as a medium for all processes, it (the system) slows down during the night. Drinking water in the morning helps re-start the system thereby hiking up the metabolic rate.

Lemon & honey are also known to contain vitamins & minerals and are therefore considered safe even when consumed on an empty stomach.

However, this drink alone is not enough to lose weight. It has to be accompanied by exercise & sensible eating. And it is also believed that once our body gets used to this concoction, the weight loss stops, though the drink will continue to help in the digestive process.

Proteins All The Way!

People, here is some dope on the role of proteins in promoting weight-loss.

Many people, including I, swear by a low carb-high protein diet. It's said to work in two ways -The body needs more water to digest starch, so eating less of it creates a fluid loss which means you would lose a couple of pounds almost immediately.

Secondly, protein is more filling than carbs, stays longer in the system and the body needs more calories to burn it.

Personally, a low carb diet works for me. I try not to consume rotis, rice or bread at dinner time. You can feel the effect of this within a couple of days! You feel lighter and if you consume proteins such as chicken & paneer for lunch, it will keep you full for a long time and there would be no cravings for junk food in the evenings!

So there, the secret behind the effectiveness of a high-protein diet in helping reduce weight is unraveled!