Dietitian Riya Luthra

It doesn't matter if you are able to cover the different exercises or not as long as you are doing something.
The only bad work out is the one that you didn't do.
Human body is meant to do more activity and lesser sitting.
Working out and eating clean are indispensable part of our lives. If we tend to ignore either of two then you will lose your lean body mass, fat loss won't happen and body becomes vulnerable to diseases.

According to research, 1 out of 4 school going children suffer from developmental delays, speech and language problems, impaired motor skills and difficulty in understanding the real world around them due to excessive screen times.
It is really important for parents to involve the child in maximum outdoor/ indoor physical and mental activities so that they get a better understanding of nature and the day to day processes of the environment in which they are growing.

Millets should be included in daily diet because of its abundant benefits-

- protein rich grain
-full of magnesium and phosphorus
- helps in lowering blood sugar levels
- helps in lowering cholesterol levels
- easy to digest
- full of antioxidants

Millets have been a part of our traditional culture, they are time tested but due to the western influence in our diets, they have been somewhere lost.

Rome was not build in one day, it was build every day. Similarly, your fitness and health needs to be build everyday. Try to eat as much balanced as you can. Combine your carbohydrates with proteins and eat a colourful plate everyday.
Following good diet and fitness is not something to be followed on temporary basis to lose that target weight to attend a friends wedding or your own wedding but make it a lifestyle because nothing beats a great body and good health. Being a fitness addict is the best addiction ever.

UNFAO has declared year 2021 as the year of vegetables and fruits. All that we have learnt from 2020 was that life is unpredictable, fragile and we are not in control of everything. But we can atleast take charge of things that are in control of.
Make this year about yourself, your health, your family's health and your mental peace.
Start taking charge of what you put in your mouth and making sure that you make fresher,local, healthier choice over packaged, processed and unhealthy.
Start taking charge by working out for your body. Your body is going to thank you later.

As we stand on the brink of 2021, lets make a serious commitment towards our health, fitness and well being.
There is always a choice either investing in our good health or investing in sickness.
Make sure you make the right choice.

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Are you finding it difficult to do your work outs? Here are some tips that actually might help-
1. Go and watch some motivational videos of fitness influencers.
2. Fix a particular slot for yourself and try to do exercise on the same time everyday. That will help you to get in a routine.
3. Keep reminding yourself that why are you working out in the first place? It is because your health is more important than all other aspects that keep you occupied throughout the day. If you have good health only then you will be able to do all other stuff.
4. Do what you love the most. It could be dancing, aerobics, strength training, yoga, jogging. Just go and move that body.
5. It will give immense joy and satisfaction when you will attain that well toned and fit body.

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By being on a calorie deficit diet doesn't mean that you have to eat less, it rather means you have to work out harder to earn your food.
The more you include packaged food( cookies, chocolates, aerated drinks, chips etc) in your life, the more you increase your chances of having lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, blood pressure problems, heart problems, cancers.
Simply start by chasing a healthy lifestyle, fat loss will chase you in return.
Dont time frame your good habbits. When you get a great looking body, there should be no turning back.

DM for your customized diet and workout plans.

When living in a region where there is ample supply of fresh vegetables, fruits and regional grains such as rice, millets, pulses why do we still tend to make poor choices of eating processed and packaged food which been produced by big plants for mass consumption using lowest qualities of oil, flour, sugar and packaged in plastic which is going to stay in our environment forever.
These local vendors hand pick the vegetables from the nearest farms on everyday basis but we still tend to eat something that was packed so and so days ago and kept in the malls.
Its not rice or mango that causes diabetes but its the colas, chocolates, chips mass produced for the whole nation that causes the diseases.
So don't skip that dal chawal freshly home made meal to go for some baked pack of chips that shows lesser no of calories on the packet.

Have you set goals like losing 10kilos in a month or maybe 2? Have you thought about what will happen after that? Will that weight stay off or come back?
When you set a particular time limit in your mind, then your mind gets trained naturally to eat clean and exercise only for that particular period of time and once you achieve your goals, you indulge yourself again in unhealthy eating patterns and no routine of exercise leading to gain those kilos again and leaving you frustrated all over again. Its a vicious cycle. Make goals like losing 10kilos in 6 months or even a year. Time doesn't matter as long as you are losing and not gaining again.

Am i asking you to eat 100% clean everyday and never have your favourite cheat meals? NO!
moderation is the only key here. If you fix one particular day in a week , for instance Sunday, when you can indulge in your favourite food and drinks. This will help you stay focused on your healthy pattern throughout the week thinking that you will get a reward for your hard work on Sunday and not really depriving yourself from everything.
Your today's discipline will bear you fruits in your old age by giving you a healthy, disease free life.

EAT MORE TO LOSE MORE!!
In order to attain weight loss, the body needs to go in a calorie deficit mode. It could be any value for you for instance 1500 calories. You can achieve this value by either following eating pattern on the left side or the right side. If you eat food from the left side-

1. You might lose weight but still end up with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, fatty liver, heart problems because of the refined oil, flour, sugar present in the food. So losing weight is not a big deal actually.
2. You would be losing muscle mass because there is not enough protein in it and also it lacks all the nutrients.
3. You will have to eat less as it is high in empty calories.

While the food choices on the right side is wholesome, full of nutrients to nourish your body and keep you healthy. Mindful eating will actually result in weight loss.

Food - always so ever giving and ever nurturing then what's the fear always buzzing around this word?
Ask a farmer how does he feels when he sees those tiny babies grow into big plants.
Do you know there are plenty of grains and millets that used to grow in India but farmers discontinued growing them because of their decreasing demand as we shifted our focus to the westernized cuisines that are not really meant for our genes thus resulting in the onset of diabetes in India.

Body shaming is a major part of our society and because of it we take desperate measures to shed off all the weight. But remember it took you certain period to gain all that weight so how can you expect to lose it in 10 days. Losing 10kgs in 1 month and then gaining again does terrible harm to your metabolism but losing 10kgs in the 6 months and not letting it bounce back ever is the real achievement here.

Consistent and disciplined lifestyle is the only key here. Problems occur when cheat meal becomes cheat day and cheat day becomes cheat days.

The first step starts with acceptance. Accept your body and love your body. Start working towards it to make it stronger and healthier internally.

Get your blood tests done. Make sure all your blood sugar readings, triglycerides, liver enzymes readings are in range by eating right and working out regularly. The external visible weight loss will come as a by product.

Focus on being metabolically healthy and not size zero.

Eating vegetables can never be en-'thai'- rely boring when you can incorporate them in delicious flavours as such that of a 'thai curry' flavour.
This vegan, gluten free, easy recipe made from scratch was not just up on flavours but also in nutrition.

❤️ 🌱

This is the picture of my first client( a family member). The moment we realized that its high time and he needs to lose weight, we both started browsing and searching for different random diets but nothing seemed like a forever kind of a solution. And this was my actual inspiration to do a full course regarding health, nutrition and weight loss as i wanted to opt for a healthy lifestyle and it actually did wonders. Few of the many things that i learnt were-
Any random diet that asks you to eat the same thing throughout the day is not correct because by doing that we are consuming same nutrients and depriving ourselves from other nutrients.
Any diet that asks you to pop pills and not doing any sort of exercise or stay hungry for long intervals is doing a terrible harm to your body.
The only way to lead a healthy and disease free life is to provide your body with adequate nutrients. Weight loss will come as a by product.
Love your body and feed your body with optimal nutrition. Starving was, is and never will be the right choice.

DM for your personalized meal and workout plans.

Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries, heart attacks or stroke.

It is a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors. But genetics factors play a role of only 30% and the rest 70% is in your hands.

Sedentary lifestyle is one leading cause of it. 40 minutes of moderate intensity everyday workout is essential to avoid it.

Your diet should have very limited amount of refined sugar and trans fat( all the packaged food have trans fat in it, even if the packaging says it is diet food). Whole fruits, vegetables, protein, millets, good fats should make up for 90% of your diet

Being overweight and having fat around the abdomen area increases its chances.

Eggs are among the most nutrient dense foods on this planet.
The yolk contains saturated fats which are essential for the health of our brain as it is made up of 70% fat.
It is one of the best sources of protein among all vegetarian and non vegetarian protein sources.
It contains all essential vitamins that you need.
Replace your breakfast with eggs and it will help you to eat lesser calories throughout the day by keeping you satiated.

As people age, their physical activity decreases but instead it should increase. 40 minutes of combination exercises including strength training and cardio is essential to prevent oneself from heart diseases.
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Unhealthy eating pattern and inactive lifestyle leads to health problems.

Throwing caffeine in your system the very first thing in the morning can likely cause your blood pressure to increase, heart palpitations which will further put certain pressure on your body and cause your metabolism to slow down which will further slow down your fat burning process throughout the day.
Also it can leave you bloated and acidic throughout the day. So if you think that you are bloated after eating something, it is because of that morning bed tea.
Eat something the first thing in the body and then have your cup of tea/ coffee.

It's all in your mind. Your fitness starts from there. If you had something junk in the breakfast, then it gets easy to think that let me eat whatever i want to eat the whole day and will start afresh from tomorrow. But thats where the problem starts.
No day is perfect. But even if you try to eat 80% clean in 1 week and keep that 20% where you can satisfy your cravings, you automatically get closer to developing great habits for your lifetime.
So, no! Junk food is not a 'no-no' if you learn how to balance your days and eventually your life.

If your child has a sweet tooth and craves for the same, then instead of satisfying them with some sugar loaded beverages or candies, try giving them a piece of jaggery.
Jaggery is the most organic and unrefined version of sugar that we eat. It is attained by boiling sugarcanes.
It is loaded with antioxidants, iron, magnesium, zinc.
Simply great for boosting your immunity.

Yeah, its true that cauliflower family including cabbage, broccoli does interfere with iodine absorption which is essential for the adequate functioning of thyroid gland.
But this does not mean that the person whose thyroid gland is not functioning in it's peak efficiency can never eat this vegetable. The trick is to eat in a cooked form rather than raw version.
And honestly this innocent and nutrient loaded cauliflower is not the major concern in thyroid cases rather the processed and packaged food, inactive lifestyle, eating at the wrong time and no proper sleeping schedule is the major cause of concern.

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Chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart problems, thyroid can happen due to our wrong habits and unhealthy lifestyle. So by adapting some simply good habits, one can actually be saved from many chronic diseases.

So instead of investing in medical expenses later in life, lets invest in our health and take out time for ourselves.

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Cashews are a good source of Magnesium which plays a crucial role in our sleep cycle. Even a slight deficiency in magnesium can cause sleep disturbances.
Just soak some cashews in milk and have it before night time.
It might actually help.

One reason for developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy is insulin resistance.
It is totally related to fitness of the women's body. If your body has adequate amount of muscle mass the easier it becomes for the cells of the body to use all the nutrients from your body for the development of the baby. And without adequate muscle tissues, the body faces difficulties in adapting to this change and exactly why some people develop gestational diabetes.

But this is something that you totally control by having a fit lifestyle before planning pregnancy.

Spending 45- 50 minutes in the gym is more than sufficient. When you overdo that or do it twice in a day thinking that it will burn more fat, the results that we get are totally opposite. Instead of losing fat deposits, the body starts losing muscle mass. It interplays with your hormones and causes imbalances.You feel tired and over consumed throughout the day. Your stress hormone( cortisol) level increases. You get mood swings frequently.
So enjoy that 1 workout session of the day and the key is to stay active throughout the day by monitoring your steps.

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Our body weight is composed of lean body weight which is the weight of our bones and muscles and body fat.
The fat occupies a large volume in our body but weighs very less as compared to muscle. Muscle on the other hand is very dense and occupies very less space and weighs more.
You can compare 1kg marshmallow to fat and 1kg muscle with iron. Both weighs the same but too much difference in density.
So when a person loses weight by crash dieting, you lose your lean body weight and because of that the total body weight also decreases on weighing machine and you are left with a flabby skin.
But when a person loses fat by following the right parameters, your LBW will increase and fat stores will drop. You might not be able to see a very drastic progress on the weighing scales in this case. But you will look fit, toned and younger.
And no, BMI cannot be considered as the accurate way of measuring fitness because it takes into account the total body weight of the person. Two different persons having different body fat and LBW can have the same BMI.


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When its that time of the day somewhere between 4pm to 6pm, you can totally feel the hunger pangs but its not dinner time yet. So the easiest way to satisfy the hunger is to grab a packet of biscuits, chips or any other packaged food or simply having chai with rusks. But that's where we go wrong.
All we need to do is to create a mini meal for ourselves which is a complete meal comprising of protein source, vitamins, healthy fats.
In our day to day busy lives, it can get difficult to prepare short yet complete meals to nourish ourselves so one way to do that is plan your meals one day before so that you can make necessary arrangements and take out time to prepare them.

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