Nutritionist Somya Bohra

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Including healthy eating habits in your life is a must if you want to support your overall well-being. While trendy diets and lifestyle overhauls are all the rage, the truth is that simple changes and swaps can lead to big results in the health department.

I have some go-to healthy-eating tips that I lean on when people want to eat more healthfully. All of my tips are simple to do and they won't require juice cleanses or expensive supplements to accomplish. To make implementing healthy eating habit changes more sustainable, I generally recommend that people choose two or three tips to kick-start their healthy eating journey. Once you master a few tips, you can add more...

Healthy eating emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and protein. Dairy recommendations include low-fat or fat-free milk, lactose-free milk, and fortified soy beverages. Other plant-based beverages do not have the same nutritional properties as animal’s milk and soy beverages. Protein recommendations include seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), soy products, nuts, and seeds.

Importance of A Balanced Diet
A balanced diet-
* Meet the nutritional demands of the body and prevent malnutrition
* Keep up energy levels and maintain normal body functions
* Boost the immune system and optimise cell repair
* Prevent lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers
* Strengthen bones, muscles, skin, teeth, and eyes
* Help support healthy pregnancies

Navratri fasting is a time of spiritual reflection and self-purification, but it can also be a culinary challenge. It's easy for fasting to turn into feasting, followed by a nagging sense of guilt. Many of us unknowingly make common mistakes, often believing that certain fasting foods are inherently healthy. We think of fasting as a way to detox and also lose some weight along the way. But by the end of the festival, many of us realise we actually gained weight after the fasting period.
These are some healthy swaps.

While there are many ways to lose weight, finding a healthy eating and exercise plan that you can follow for life is the best way to ensure successful, long-term weight loss.
Although fad diets may offer a quick fix, they are often unhealthy and deprive the body of the nutrients and calories it needs, leading most people to return to unhealthy habits after they hit their weight loss goal.
Being more active, focusing on whole foods, cutting back on added sugar and making time for yourself are just a few ways to get healthier and happier.
Remember, weight loss is not one-size-fits-all. To be successful, it is important to find a plan that works for you and fits well with your lifestyle.

Urinary tract infection is an infection of the urinary tract (urethra, bladder, etc.). It is more common in women than men because they have a shorter urethra. This infection is mainly caused by a bacteria called E. coli. Pain in the flank, burning sensation and smelly and cloudy urine, etc., might be noticed if you have a UTI. A few natural products might act as home remedies for urinary tract infections, such as cranberry juice, cinnamon, bearberry, coconut water, etc. However, more research is required to ascertain the potential of these possible home remedies for urine infection. Moreover, UTI can be a severe condition if not treated properly and must be diagnosed and treated by a doctor.  

Cucumber is a nutritious fruit with a high water content. Eating cucumber may help lower blood sugar, prevent constipation, and support weight loss. To maximize cucumber’s health benefits, eat the peel, too.

Though commonly thought to be a vegetable, cucumber is actually a fruit.

It’s high in beneficial nutrients, as well as certain plant compounds and antioxidants that may help treat and even prevent some conditions.
Also, cucumbers are low in calories and contain a good amount of water and soluble fiber, making them ideal for promoting hydration and aiding in weight loss.

Pear has been considered a medicinal plant since prehistoric times.
Pear may have beneficial properties such as:
* It may have anti-inflammatory potential (manages inflammation or swelling)
* It may act as an antioxidant (decreases oxidative stress)
* It may potentially have anti-diarrhoeal activity
* It may have antimicrobial potential
* It may have sedative properties (induces calmness and sleep)
* It may have antipyretic activity (reduces fever)
* It may have wound healing potential
* It may have a blood-glucose-lowering effect
* It may have a lipid-lowering effect
* It may have anti-cancer potential
* It may have a blood pressure-lowering effect.

Protein Necessary for tissue formation, cell reparation, and hormone and enzyme production. It is essential for building strong muscles and a healthy immune system.
Fat Provides stored energy for the body, functions as structural components of cells, and signaling molecules for proper cellular communication. It provides insulation to vital organs and works to maintain body temperature.
Fiber Dietary fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, includes the parts of plant foods your body can't digest or absorb. Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fiber isn't digested by your body. Instead, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine and colon and out of your body.
Fiber is commonly classified as soluble, which dissolves in water, or insoluble, which doesn't dissolve.

Gut health refers to the balance of microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. Looking after the health of the gut and maintaining the right balance of these microorganisms is vital for physical and mental health, immunity, and more.

Maintaining a healthy gut contributes to better overall health and immune function.
By making appropriate lifestyle and dietary changes, people can alter the diversity and number of microbes in their gut for the better.
Positive changes a person can make include taking probiotics, following a fiber-rich vegetarian diet, and avoiding the unnecessary use of antibiotics and disinfectants.
Other simple lifestyle changes a person can make include getting enough sleep and exercising regularly.

The lower immune system is the reason that various common infections find their way to the human system. A healthy diet of rainy season foods is the best method to keep the body in perfect health, and some of the tips are:
* Lower the salt content in the diet to retain and increases the blood pressure in the body. However, this leads to additional problems in the rainy season, and hence avoiding salt is the best way during rainy weather.
* Foods and drinks that bring down the body temperature like buttermilk, lassi, watermelon will increase the risk of swelling in the body and avoiding such foods will help recover the body from water retention.
* Adding garlic to the rainy season foods will help to improve the immune system and is essential to be added to the diet.
* Take more amounts of curd and yoghurt as it reduces the risk of harmful bacteria entering the body. Substitute milk for curd.
* Try to prefer warm drinks except caffeinated ones to bestow good health to keep the body warm and safe.
* Include corn oil instead of sesame, peanut and mustard oil as they invite more infections.
* Try to prefer only boiled and purified water as it is a season prone to more infections. Water is the primary source of contamination, and hence one must take proper care here.
* Limit the amount of meat in foods we eat in the rainy season and substitute it with chicken.
* Herbal warm water with ginger, tulsi, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and cloves help to prevent infections and increases immunity levels.