We just bid farewell to Diwali this year. New year is around the corner too and soon its going to be raining parties again. While you may be checking on your diet to fit into that tiny black dress and party hard, you certainly would not want the night to turn out to be the “spoiler” of all the efforts you have made so far.

Find below few tips that you may follow to eat right at a party and ensure that you do not spend the next day only repenting or curing the hangover. In short, here’s how you can have the cake and eat it too!

1. Eat at home before you leave- In my line of work, I often see my clients skipping their lunch for an impending evening party. Not only should you avoid skipping your meals during the day, but also ensure you eat before leaving. Eating a small snack of nuts, cheese toast or a wholesome meal of dal rice, roti sabzi at home beforehand will mean you’re arriving at the party satisfied already, not starving. The buffet usually has so many food and drink options that if you go in hungry, you’re doomed.

2. Drinking wise- Eat good fats like cheese, paneer, peanuts, olives etc. or fried starters along with your drinks. Having food in the stomach will help slow the processing of alcohol and will also help to form a thin lining in the stomach to digest the alcohol easily and prevent you from having a bad hangover the next day.

3. Stay hydrated and take it slow- To pace yourself, have no more than one standard drink per hour, with water as “drink spacers” between your alcoholic drinks. Note that for every person, no matter his size, it takes about 1 hour for the liver to completely digest one standard drink. Sipping on your drink slow and staying well hydrated, keeps the liver from being overloaded; it enables a person to maintain a safe blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and achieve the social relaxation effect that most people desire.

4. Eat before you sleep- Make sure you do eat your dinner and not hit the sack empty stomach. Pick any two items for your main meal from the laid on spread. Stay away from dips, sauces, chips, munchies etc and choose more wholesome options like biryani raita, roti-paneer sabzi, pulao-curd etc. Eat dessert, if you wish, 45 mins to 1 hour after your main meal.

5. Be mindful- Concentrate on your meal while you are eating it. Focus on chewing your food well and enjoying the taste, aroma and texture of each item. Research shows that multitasking during mealtime (whether at home or at a party) can make you pop mindless calories into your mouth. Of course, dinner-party conversation is only natural and important too, but it will be a good idea to set your food down until you are finished chatting so you are more aware of what you are taking in.

6. Starting right the next day- Start your day with glass of water boiled with 1-2 strands of saffron (kesar). Drink it on an empty stomach while still warm. Follow it with a banana and a teaspoon of gulkand (rose petal jam) This will help cleanse or detox your system, and prevent or cure headaches or hangovers if any.

 

7. Up your fluid intake- Since alcohol consumption causes dehydration, one tends to get dry mouth, tiredness, headache, dizziness, light headedness etc. the next day. Do consume fluids like sugarcane juice, coconut water, kokum sherbet liberally throughout the next day to ensure you are rehydrated well.

Stay happy and healthy.

Happy Partying!

Unsure about the right diet for you? Are you torn between what you’d love to eat and what you hear is unhealthy for you? Sign up for a one-on-one nutrition & diet consultation with leading Mumbai dietitian Munmun Ganeriwal

I like to move it, move it…Do you?

You may want to stand up while you read this…

If history is any guide, next week millions of people will make a New year’s fitness resolution in an annual, usually ineffective, effort to lose weight. From Gym workouts to Yoga, from Zumba to Pilates, from Kettle bell workouts to TRX training, everyone will have a lot to ‘try’ to get back on the wagon (and money to be made in the process by the weight loss industry)

But what if you end up being an Active Couch Potato?

Huh…what’s that?

Well, an Active Couch Potato is the one who exercises for 30 mins or more on most days of the week, but who then sits all day watching TV or working at a desk or playing video games or simply ordering take-out and delivery, reading, shopping, banking, eating a meal at a table or navigating the stock market.

So, what’s the big deal?

Actually, the deal is much bigger than you can imagine. Fascinating new research is revealing that sitting for long hours alters our physiology in ways that prevents exercise from burning fat. The act of too much sitting blocks the normal impacts of exercise and makes our bodies exercise- resistant. Simply put, you may comply with your workout routine, but if you are sitting for long periods of time, your metabolic health is still compromised. Exercising followed by too much sitting through the day may do little to reduce risk of heart diseases, diabetes, weight gain, high cholesterol etc. This is a new and challenging area for exercise science and population-health research.

These findings are also based on a study of “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” or NEAT, which is the amount of calories you burn doing everything except sleeping, eating and exercise. Low NEAT is linked to, among other things, weight gain, poor metabolic health and cancer.

What’s the action plan?

Our bodies did not evolve to sit in chairs all day. Current research findings of ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) indicate that moving more during the day, in addition to getting 150mins/week of exercise, is necessary to reduce one’s risk of diseases and to lose weight.

CREATE YOUR ‘GET MOVING’ ACTION PLAN
 – Make your own “Get Moving” action plan to incorporate movements that effortlessly fit into your work life and daily living.

You could start with few of these-

1. 2 minutes of walking for every hour of sitting is shown to help reverse its negative effects. Set a reminder on your computer or phone and take a break every hour
2. Take your calls standing or walking, both at work and home
3. Hold standing meetings at work. “Walk and Talk” instead of long and tiring “sit all day” meetings is also a great idea
4. Use sit-stand desks to regularly break up seated-based work with active standing
5. Take a walk break every time you take a coffee/ chai break (and give your phone a break too;)
6. Walk to a colleagues’ desk instead of emailing or calling her/him (you will end up making few great office friends too :))
7. Replace those weekend drives with weekend walks
8. When watching TV, stand up/move/ stretch with every commercial break
9. Play real games vs virtual with your kids 15-30 minutes a day
10. Weekend activities like farming/ trekking instead of ‘chilling’ in malls not only creates more movement for entire family but also encourages the child to get connected to and stay in harmony with nature

So get moving, and stay moving!

Here’s to a fitter and healthier 2017… Happy New Year!