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.