Want to live healthy and longer? Eat healthy

GUEST COLUMN: N Prabhudev

Bangalore, Dec. 8:

What to eat and What Not to – White diet is White Evil!

When you take White Diet ‘Non Communicable disease is complimentary’!
You will become what you eat! Eat with Heart in Mind!
I recommend- Eat when you are hungry! Mindless Eating is to eat when we are no longer hungry. The reason we eat has less to do with sustenance and more to do with taste.

My Healthy plate Quarter, Quarter, Half is an easy way to remember the right proportions of each food group in a well-balanced meal.

Here’s how:
Fill Quarter plate with whole grains
Fill Quarter plate with good sources of protein
Fill half plate with fruit and vegetables
Food is not just the fuel that makes your body run. Today we are all in the ruthless reality –we are living to eat but not eating to live long. Eating fewer calories slows down aging and increases longevity. Eat less, eat right and Live Longer! Eat to your biological needs and not to the greed of your satiety! Overindulgence leads to several chronic diseases.

Foods that are close to nature like fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans and peas, whole grains and lean meats are best for body.

Avoid Sugar and Salt, Flour & Rice
Avoid red meat and processed food
Say Yes to fruits and vegetables
Practice Yoga and Walk 10,000 steps a day
Live for 100 years and more!

No White Diet
Processing of the food gives the white colour to the food!
White Diet is an eating pattern founded upon the notion that eliminating processed white-colour foods from your diet can help you lose weight and improve your blood sugar control. Most white foods except Milk are unhealthy, are high in carbs, and contain fewer nutrients. Dietary choices strictly on a food’s colour is an oversimplified way to approach good nutrition.

Recommended!
Vegetables: cauliflower, onions, garlic, turnips, carrots, Broccoli, Tomato etc.
Nuts and seeds: cashews, almonds, ground nuts, pine nuts etc.
Legumes: white beans
Meat: white fish, poultry
Dairy: milk, yogurt, cheese
Others: egg whites and fruits
Excess of Sugar leads to Diabetes- the body’s inability to produce and use insulin! Inactive lifestyle, poor eating habits and genetics, contribute to the development of Diabetes. Sugar is addictive.

Too much sugar increases risk of weight gain, obesity, high blood pressure, vision loss, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and in the long run causes Erectile dysfunction!

How much sugar should you really be consuming? A gram of sugar contains about 4 calories. These are empty calories – provide no nutrients. Males can consume an equivalent to 38 g or 9 teaspoons of sugar and women -25 g or 6 tea spoons of sugar per day.

Excessive salt consumption causes high Blood pressure, heart diseases and kidney problems. 500 mg is a safe daily minimum intake of sodium enough to maintain the bodily functions. We consume on an average 3500 mg of salt! Limit salt intake to below 2,300 mg per day. In addition everyone should also get at least 4,700 mg of potassium a day to help balance their levels of sodium and potassium in the body.
Rice!

Brown Rice is better than white variety – 1/4 cup gives 220 calories.
Rice is a staple food for billions of people. It recommended that each person should consume no more than 2 servings of rice per day –One serving yields from 1/4 cup of uncooked rice. Has only 3 to 4 grams of protein. Rice has High glycaemic index – can lead to obesity, risk of constipation and yields empty calories, increases the risk of metabolic syndrome.
The 7-Day Colour Diet

Eating at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs. Fruits and vegetables, get their hues from natural pigments. Those pigments are called phytonutrients, and they can affect the plant’s appearance and health benefits.
Different colour foods have different nutritional benefits. The 7-Day Colour Diet provides recipes using nutritional foods based on scientific evidence. Day one is white, day two is red, day three is green, day four is orange, day five is purple, day six is yellow, and on day seven you eat the rainbow of colours. If you follow and stick with the diet, you should lose weight, maintain a healthy weight and maybe even improve your complexion.

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