Here are a few tips for healthy living by Dr. M.G. Prasad, Master Fitness Trainer, Zen Sports & Fitness Center, Bengaluru

 

Sleep Well

Your body needs at least 7-8 hours of sleep every day. The physical body requires long periods of sleep to restore tissues and rejuvenate muscles. Sleep also balances blood pressure, heals and repairs the fatigue that occurred on major organs – heart, kidneys, liver, etc during day activities.

 

Sleeping very late nights

If you are stuck with your work and want to stretch your day, eating an Apple before you sleep late at night helps in producing the necessary energy. This is to ensure all the organs of the body – kidney, lungs, heart, liver has sufficient energy to work during sleep. Eating an Apple can provide energy for these organs for 4-5 hours during sleep.

 

Meals and Snacks

It is suggested to consume three meals and 2 snacks per day with a time gap of 2.5 to 3 hours in between. Snacks can be like mixed fruit, mixed veg salad, peanuts or brown rice, or brown bread with cheese. In daily meals, including lots of leafy vegetables which are sources of rich iron. This helps to build and improve muscle strength

 

Daily Exercise

20-30 minutes of exercise a day helps you to be fit and healthy. And at least twice or thrice a week it is suggested to do weight training to increase metabolism to add some muscle mass to your body and to burn unused fats.

 

Only short naps during day time

It is fine to take a small nap during the daytime. But, sleeping more than 30 minutes during the day hours can slow down the metabolic activities of the body and results in the formation of fat in the body.

 

Read before you sleep

Its a good habit to read before going to bed. Stress accumulated whole day can be carried during the sleep too. Reading 5 minutes before we go to sleep can bring down the stress levels and gives you sound stressless sleep.

 

No carbohydrates after 7pm

Carbohydrates are generally required to generate energy. But after 7 pm we usually will not have much daily activities to perform and the requirement of energy is also less. Carbohydrates consumed will be converted into glucose to generate energy. The unused glucose will convert into fat. So, it is suggested to avoid high glycemic foods with carbohydrates like white rice, white bread, etc after 7 pm because these foods will convert into glucose very fast and accumulate in the bloodstream.

 

If needed, you can consume protein food after 7 pm. Our bodies will start restoring and rejuvenating muscles and tissues during resting. Proteins help in rebuilding tissues and muscles during sleep.

 

Drink sufficient water

Drinking 3 liters of water per day helps to avoid dehydration of the body. If your body weight is more than 75kg, it is necessary to consume 4 liters. And you can consume the suggested water as required for the whole day.

If you are planning for outdoor workouts, drinking water with glucose, orange, or sweet lime just helps to give you instant energy and rejuvenates your muscles for workouts. These juices will add vitamin c to our diets.

 

Meditate everyday

In this modern life, stress has become common in our daily life. But try to reduce your stress by meditating daily for some time to control emotions and ensure your body and mind are in balance.

 

Finish your dinner 2 hrs before sleep

To generate energy, our body will convert everything we consume into glucose. The glucose will be used by our organs to perform their activities. And the glucose that is produced has to burn in 3 hours. If not, the rest over glucose will convert into fat which leads to weight gain. Generally, after 6 pm, we will be heading to home and will not have much work to burn glucose. So it is suggested to consume dinner before 2 hours so as to ensure that 80% of glucose is burnt. The rest over 20% of glucose will be used by our organs to perform their activities during sleep.

 

Alcohol – Not more than 60 ml/day

In the case of older adults, consuming 30ml to 60ml of alcohol during the night will help in increasing the metabolism in the body and to increase temperature & blood flow to all the muscles, and decrease fat accumulation. Consuming more than 60ml may bring negative effects on the body.

 

Green Tea or Lemon Tea

Green tea has a lot of anti-oxidants which helps in removing toxins formed in the body due to daily activities. Consuming Green tea helps in rejuvenating your body and to restore the energy system. Lemon tea or citric fruits like orange or sweet lime will provide vitamin c, which helps in the growth, development, and repair of body tissues. Avoid sugar to bring the result of tea quickly

 

Don’t exercise on an empty stomach

We do exercise to maintain fitness or to burn fat. Our body needs carbohydrates to burn fats. Exercising on empty stomach or without carbohydrates may lead you negative effects. This is because your body needs the energy to burn fat and starts breaking down the muscle tissues to generate energy. So as to prevent the loss of hard-earned muscle tissues, it is suggested to eat small quantity of any ripe fruit to burn fat effectively. Eat a banana or papaya before starting your workout program.

 

Also, keep sipping water during workouts as you sweat out in the process of fat burning.