The rain checklist
It's raining buckets. You
theatrically sigh in pretend lament as your heart secretly does cartwheels no
exercise today! For those of you who find it hard to reign in the urge to skip
rained-out workouts, I've got bad news. I am going to suggest ways to lose
weight, eat smart and exercise within the four walls of your home. Don't hate
me. It's all for your own good.
Unless you have a home gym or a
place of exercise that doesn't involve some travel, there will be days where
you genuinely won't be able to make it. But I find that a lot of people use
this season as a pretext to get off the health track entirely. Why gain when it
rains? Look at it this way: a healthy monsoon means that when the party season
rolls around, you are looking smoking hot. Instead of taking a rain check this
season, take in the rain checklist instead...
FOR FOOD
You don't have to plough slippery
streets and negotiate overflowing gutters to get to a nutritionist. Online meal
plans as well as online home delivery options abound. Nutritionists have also
started online programmes so, after preliminary health checks and blood tests,
the meal plan gets delivered straight to your inbox.
If you aren't going to a
nutritionist, do your research online and carefully choose diets that consist
of about 25 per cent protein, 10 per cent (good) fats like MUFA, PUFA and
Omega-3 and 65 per cent carbs (which includes fruits, vegetables, breads,
pastas and the like). Needless to say, your carb intake needs to tip in favour
of healthy fruits and vegetables. Check with your doctor that the diet ensures
weightloss or maintenance (whatever your aim), and will not affect your general
health. Also, don't forget to monitor your oil and sugar content during the
programme: depending on your lipid profile, 24 teaspoons of oil a day is all
you need to ensure that your low-cal food has both fat and flavour. I'd also advise
you to break up any diet you take into smaller meals and eat every two hours.
The process of digestion burns calories and smaller meals help keep your body
in the digestion mode for longer.
One of the most fun parts about
going online though is tracking your progress -there are tons of weight tracker
apps out there. But be honest to yourself.
FOR COMFORT FOOD
There's something about the monsoon
that heightens the senses and the food cravings with it. Avoid common comfort
food traps. While bhujiyas and pakoras are standard monsoon comfort fare, other
healthier options also work. Corn-on-the-cob or bhutta is a brilliant and
incredibly healthy masala-filled option. Corn-in-a-cup also works. Boiled black
chanas, piping hot idlis with yummy sambhar, masala rava idlis, hot masala chai
(without tons of sugar), hot soups, boiled peanuts, kebabs, chicken tikka (with
low oil), grilled vegetables, dosas, neer dosas, uttapams and upma -all have
the ability to satisfy your craving for something fried in the rains.
FOR EXERCISE
If you can't make it for a walk or
the gym, you'd be surprised with the kind of workouts DVDs can give you. These
may even go one step further, providing that missing bit of variation to your
workouts, leading you to exercise muscles that may not have been active in your
regular workouts. Or just climb stairs or jump rope: both are amazingly simple
ways to get your heart rate pumping just enough to lose weight.
So there you have it. The no-excuses
guide to monsoon fitness. And a no-holds-barred solution to looking your best
during the monsoon months.
|
by Pooja Makhija Consulting
Nutritionist & Clinical Dietician
|
TL26JUL15
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