Friday 8 September 2017

Eat Smart by making a healthy plate out of available menu!

How to Smart eat at Rajab Niaz or dinners or weddings or in any situation where you are a guest and have no control over selection of menu!
The answer is relevant whether you belong to a certain sect or religion or generally being a human, we come across occasions when we are either celebrating or mourning.
There are two possible situations, either you are arranging for the food where you have more control on what to serve, or you are attending, where you do not have any control over the food being served.
Even in the first situation your control is limited because there are a lot of factors that you have to keep in mind, such as socially acceptable menu, norms, rites etc. But here you can still sneak in at least one or two healthier options. Such as opt for a salad 🥗with lemon or vinaigrette dressing instead of mayo. Have gravies 🥘 cooked in lesser oil or have it removed before serving. Have steam roasted chicken🍗 or bbq as part of menu, etc.
👍🏽👌🏽👏🏽💪🏽The good thing is in both situations there is one thing you are totally in control of and that is what goes in your plate and ultimately in your body! Do not announce you are on diet. Just casually eat food without letting anyone know you are eating selectively.
Choose wisely from the available choice. Opt for proteins that is meats such as chicken, mutton beef etc, prefer leaner ones. Or incase you are vegetarian opt for lentils, beans or chick peas. Have cooked vegetables but avoid or limit portions of starchy vegetables such as potatoes. Remove excess oil. Best avoid carbs/starches such as roti, rice poori, naan, parathas, desserts etc. If you really are craving, have small portions, 3-4 bites of any selected carbs. You should prefer rice over wheat because it is gluten free. But no complulsion, you can choose what you are craving. Just watch your portion.
Your plate should be filled with quarter portion protein, quarter or lesser carbs, and the rest cooked vegetables and/or salad. But avoid salad if you are uncertain about hygienic conditions of salad handling. Uncooked food is more prone to bacteria exposure and may cause upset tummy.
Say no to any drinks, have water instead. Definitely no fizzy drinks/sodas or juices or coloured flavoured drinks. As for desserts 2-3 teaspoons of your selected desserts will not spoil your diet much. Having a little will make you a part of the occasion, you will not feel left out.
Most importantly socialise, be a good and courteous guest or host.


۔سمجھداری سے پلیٹ بنانا

  اگر آپ احطیاط سے اپنی پلیٹ بنائیں تو چاہے رجب کی نیاز ہو یا کوٸ خوشی غمی کا مو قع ہو آپ کی ڈائیٹ خراب نہیں ہوگی۔  آپ   چاہے میزبان ہوں یا مہمان  ایسے مواقع پہ کھانا ایسا ہوتا ہے کہ آپ  اپنی  سمجھداری سے اپنی ڈائیٹ کو بگڑنے سے بچا سکتی ہیں۔  جب میزبان بھی ہوں تو مہمانوں کے آگے ڈائیٹ کھانا تو نہیں رکھ سکتے لیکن کچھ تبدیلی صحت افزاء کھانے شامل  کر کہ ہو سکتی ہے۔ جیسے سلاد میں مایونیز نہ ڈالیں بلکہ لیموں کا رس یا سرکہ اور زیتون کا تیل ڈالیں۔ کھانےمیں اسٹیم روسٹ یا کوئیلہ پہ سکا باربی کیو بھی رکھیں۔   کھانا کم تیل میں پکائیں یا پھر زائد کو نکال دیں۔
بہت ہی عمدہ بات یہ ہے کہ  آپ کھانوں کی فہرست تو نہیں بدل سکتی، لیکن آپکی پلیٹ میں کیا جائیگا اس پہ پوری طرح اختیار رکھتی ہو۔ تو کسی کو احساس دلاۓ بغیر کہ آپ ڈائیٹ پہ ہو سمجھداری سے کھانا اپنی پلیٹ میں ڈالو۔ یعنی  چوتھاٸ پلیٹ میں لحمیات یا پروٹین یعنی گوشت مرغی یا دال وغیرہ ڈالئیے۔ بہتر تو ہے کہ آپ نشاستہ یا کاربوہائیڈریٹ یعنی روٹی چاول نان پوری پراٹھہ وغیرہ نہ ہی کھائیں یا پھر بہت کم مقدار میں کھائیے۔ چوتھاٸ پلیٹ یا اس سے بھی کم میں نشاستہ  یا کاربوہائڈریٹ ہوں۔ جس میں سے بہتر ہے کہ ۳-۵ کھانے کے چمچہ چاول یا اتنے ہی نوالے روٹی کے ہوں باقی نان پوری پراٹھہ وغیرہ نہ ہی کھائیں۔
باقی کی آدھی پلیٹ پکی ہوٸ سبزی اور سلاد سے پُر کیجئیے لیکن اگر سلاد آپکو لگتا ہے کیٹرنگ کا ہے اور شاید بہت صاف طریقے سے نہ رکھا گیا یا کاٹا گیا ہو تو پھر بہتر ہے کہ نہ کھائیے کیونکہ عام طور پہ کچا کھانا پیٹ خراب کر سکتا ہے پکے ہوۓ کہ مقابلے میں۔
سادہ پانی پئیں اور کولڈ ڈرنکس جوس اور کوٸ بھی مشروب نہ پئیں۔
میٹھے میں  جو بھی بنا ہے یا تو نہ کھائیں یا صرف ۲-۳ چمچی چکھ لیں۔ باقی سب کا حصہ بھی رہیں لیکن اپنی ڈائیٹ کو بھی خراب نہ کریں۔ یہ زندگی ہے بار بار ایسے مواقع آتے رہیں گے۔ آپ ہر موقع پہ سمجھداری سے کھائیے۔ اور لوگوں یعنی دوست و احباب کے ساتھ اچھا وقت گزارئیےاور زندگی کا خوب لطف اٹھائیے۔

Eating Smart for Iftar and Eid dinners!

Eating Smart at Iftar and Eid Din

During Ramadan while having Iftar at home or eating out or at friends or family, I jotted down some points that will help you eat smart.
With Eid coming when you are bound to overeat or have a few cheat meals, what should be done?
# Have water a glass or two right before your meal.
# Fill your plate with healthier options such as chana chat, salads, fruits, BBQ, meat from the salan/gravy.
# Have a small portion of carbs like quater to half whole wheat roti, or 4-5 table spoons boiled white rice if available, if not have 4-5 tablespoons of biryani or whatever rice instead of naan. Skip naan. If you are craving just have one or two bites.
# If you are still really craving for some of the unhealthy entrée, then have a couple of small bites. But usually after having your fill with healthier options you no longer feel like having the deep fried stuff or pasta/noodle or any other unhealthy food.
# Have plain water, or lemonade made with real lemons not the packaged one if available. Refuse any other artificial drinks.
Or salty lassi or no added sugar milk shake. Some restaurants offer smoothies, you may request for it but don't forget to mention that no sweeteners added except the natural sweetness of fruits.
# Have a few like two or three tea spoons of dessert. If there is a lot of variety, you can choose the ones you love best, or have been craving for. Taste them. Eat them very slowly. That will satisfy your taste buds and make the others feel you are part of the dinner and not really skipping out on food.
Don't let people know you smart ate, as some hosts can be very persuasive and force you to try this and that. Be part of the whole eating scenario but outsmart them.
Good Luck making an investment in your physical well-being over a momentary lapse of judgement! There will be weak moments. But I just gave you tips on how to counter them. These are my tricks that I have been pulling during weddings, dinners, eating at restaurants, friends etc. My great support is my husband who is a fellow weight watcher and very strong willed when it comes to that. I waver a bit, as I allow myself tasting the things I like. He doesn't even taste.

سمجھداری سے کھانا عیدین یا افطارعشائیہ
رمضان یا عیدین کے موقع پہ چاہے گھر پہ کھا رہے ہوں یا دوست احباب یا کسی رستوراں میں، اگر ان چند نقطوں کادھیان کرکر لیجئیے تو آپ بہت سمجھداری سے پیٹ بھی بھی پائیں گے اور کوٸ خاص چیٹنگ بھی نہیں ہوگی۔


  •   کھانا شروع کرنے سے پہلے ۱-۲ گلاس پانی پی لیجئیے۔
  • اپنی طشتری کو صحت افزاء اشیاء مثلاً سلاد، چنا چاٹ، فروٹ چاٹ یا پھل، تکہ بار بی کیو یا سالن میں سے بوٹی۔
  • نشاستہ یعنی کہ کاربوہائیڈریٹس جیسے گندم، چاول، تمام دانے/ گرین یا دالیں جن میں حیاتیات اور نشاستہ دونوں ہی ہوتے ہیں کا کم حصہ طشتری میں ڈالئیے۔ جیسے چوتھاٸ یا آدھی روٹی یا پانچ س چھ چمچے ابلے سفید چاول یا پھر اسی طرح تھوڑی سی بریانی۔ نان چونکہ میدہ سے بنتا ہے تو نہ کھائیں۔
  • پی 

Wednesday 12 July 2017

Year End Challenge (YEC) Meal Plans by Admins of OWR (Our Weight Loss Regime)


Year End Challenge Grocery List

Meats poultry Dairy

  1. Chicken (preferably organic)
  2. Beef
  3. Mutton
  4. Fishمچھلی
  5. Prepare chicken/beef eshami kebabs and freeze in advance

Lentils

  1. Red and Yellow lentils دال مونگ و مسور
  2. Black and white chick peas کالے اور سفید چنے
  3. Black eyed Beans, kidney beans, black and white and red beans لال اور سفید لوبیا
Bhunnay Channay/Roasted chick peas بھنے چنے
Eggs انڈے
Cottage Cheese
Milk
Vegetables and potato cutlets prepared and frozen in advance
Breads ڈبل روٹی

  1. Wholewheat bread
  2. Bran bread
  3. Multi grain bread 
Cereals

  1. Oatabix/Weetabix
  2. All bran cereal
  3. Quaker Oats/Rolled Oats
  4. Steel cut oats/barley دیسی جو یا اوٹس کا دلیہ
  5. Multi grain flour ڈائیٹ آٹا ملٹی گرین
  6. Wholewheat flour دیسی گندم کا چکی کا آٹا
  7. Chickpea flour بیسن
  8. Brown rice چاول براؤن
  9. Wholewheat pasta براؤن پاست

Peanut butter
Tea/ green tea/ lemongrass/ coffee
Vegetables and greens ساگ
Salad
Fruits

  1. Apple سیب
  2. Banana کیلا
  3. Grape fruits چکوترا
  4. Seasonal fruits موسمی پھل

Dry Fruits خشک میوہ جات

  1. Assorted Nuts مکس ڈراٸ فروٹ
  2. Almond بادام
  3. Dates کھجور
  4. Cashew/walnuts کاجو یا اخروٹ
  5. Figs انجیر
  6. Raisins کشمش



Tuesday 4 July 2017

Sense and Sensibility in workout and diet!

Sense and Sensibility while work out and diet
Diet with sense
Work out with sensibility
Take informed decision
Your objective is to lose fat from your body and not only weight showing on scale
Your objective is to build lean muscle mass which burns more calories, gives you a nice toned shape all over
Be careful during workouts

During workouts do not over exert yourself. 20 to 40 minutes workout, 3 to 4 times a week is good enough to boost your metabolism and tone your body.
Correct Posture and Alignment
 And remember your correct posture during squats, lunges, planks, bicep or tricep curls or any other exercise is very important. Check the correct knee heel alignment for squats for example because you can hurt your knee if you bring it too forward. Plus your tush is not getting the working. It is important to know which muscle group are you targeting while you are doing a certain workout so you contract it and make it work harder to get the most out of your workout. Make your cardios more effective by doing them at the maximum speed you can manage, so your heart rate elevates between 130 to 150, depending on your age and stamina. Shorter period of faster cardio is more effective than half an hour of slower one. Focus on quality as opposed to quantity. There is no competition of spending more time in gym or doing most reps, but the time you do spend working out should give you results without injuring you. If you feel strain or pain stop immediately. You may have done something wrong, perhaps wrong posture. Attempt again only when you know the right way to do it. Use the resources around you to find out what went wrong and fix it.
Do not abuse your body
It is our obligation to take good care of it, keep it healthy, take care of hygiene and make sure we are not abusing it in any way. Avoid the following:
Over exerting
In your zeal to reduce weight fast you may be over exerting. Your body is a sacred temple. Save yourself from any possible damage or injury.
 Try to improve your posture
At the gym or home, treadmill is a great help in correcting your posture. While you are walking on treadmill look at yourself in the mirror and notice if you are slouching, are your shoulders square enough, your spine is erect and straight, and your tummy pulled in, try to pin your belly button/naval to your spine, but breathe normally, do not hold your breath.

Diet with Sense
Now while you are dieting it is important to cut calories but do not starve yourself. Also bear in mind to keep all food components in your diet. While you cut out all processed foods and refined sugars from your food, you give yourself enough nutrition through healthy diet to be able to workout and go through your day normally without having mood-swings or lethargy, which can be indication of low blood sugar or blood pressure. Your diet should be balanced, though your carbs should be less and the complex ones coming from whole and brown sources of grain or fruits and veges. Your proteins are very vital have them from animal and plant source both because they are the building blocks for your lean muscle mass, helping you build and restore your muscles as you workout and diet. So have them for all three meals and if your snacks are fruits that's fine otherwise you can have them for snacks too. Do not starve yourself or your body will retain fat and lose muscle. Your weight will fall on scale but not the fat. Have five to seven small meals meaning at no time should you go hungry. So your body knows you are not starving and there is no need to store fat, and it is willing to let go off the fat. Which believe me your body has a mind of its own and it says fat is survival for a rainy day lets keep it safe. Tell your body it's ok we can survive without fat.
Lastly hydrate yourself with plain water. Eat fruits have smoothies without added sugar but no juices not even freshly home squeezed ones because it has no fibre and high sugar. Try to avoid juices because when you juice any fruit, you may use three or more fruits to make one glass e.g three oranges or apples and we usually drink two glasses at a go as we find juices tasty and easy to drink. It means getting a high load of fructose sugar at a go. Even if you drank one glass it has fructose sugar of three fruits as opposed to if you just ate the fruit, you would eat one at a time at max two and those too along with the much required dietary fibre from fruit. The higher sugar rush from juices will get stored as fat because it cannot all be burnt. Try making smoothies instead, by adding one or two fruits, one or two vegetables like cucumber, lemon and mint leaves along with water.

Why not to workout in fasting
There is a simple rule, you do any workout after your meal, because before breakfast, your metabolism is slow and your body is not in fat burning mode. It is in starvation mode and you lose muscle and not fat, during your empty stomach workout. So first thing you do on getting up get your pre-breakfast and after 15 minutes get your breakfast. If you do workout in the mornings, have some carbs in breakfast in the form of fruits and/or cereals. Then you wait for at least 40 min before your walk/exercise. After exercise you take protein post workout bf/meal, like egg whites boiled or omelette, whatever is your choice and may be some fruit of your choice. You should have protein to help your body rebuild the wear and tear to your muscles caused by your workout. Don't overlook this point.
People tend to do workout or walk especially early in the morning without bf thinking it will burn more fat since their sugar level is low as they are in fasting so far so the body will burn fat to meet the calorie requirement for your workout. But your body, has a mind of its own, it doesn't realise your noble intentions, and thinks, fasting! starvation! Uh oh I don't know when is the next meal, let us save these precious fats and use up muscles. Save those hard earned muscles and lose the fat. There is research behind this theory. While burning fat in fasting is a myth.
This also explains people complaining they are not getting results even after workout because they were exerting but the wrong way. Educate yourself and others on the right way to get the most out of your efforts.

Sunday 2 July 2017

Ramadan Meal Plan by Hina Iftikhar
Following The Ramadan Guideline by Hina Iftikhar
The Ramadan Guideline
Sahoor!
1. Fruits
1/2 to 1 servings (1 serving size is 1 cup) of fruits or/and upto half serving of dry fruits including 2_3 dates.
2. Dairy
1/2  cup dairy whether milk or cheese or yogurt, the same amount can go into your lassi or smoothie. You may combine your fruit and dairy to make lassi too such as mango lassi, or dates shake.
3. Complex Carbohydrates
A. (you may omit grain carbs if you want)
1/2 serving. One small portion of complex carbohydrates coming from 1 slice bran bread or small whole-wheat roti, or upto 4 table spoons basmati rice, preferably brown. Or lentils, beans, potatoes etc
B. 1 serving of grains if it is going to be your main nutrition
E.g Oats, or wheat or barley porridge or quinoa or couscous or whole-wheat pasta
4. Proteins (preferably animal source because plant source ones may be gassy)
Palm sized portion of any meat. One medium sized egg has 5 grams of proteins.
Eggs, upto two eggs or 1 whole egg and 1-2 whites.
150 grams or palm sized chicken breast fillet either grilled or made into burger patties or seekh kebab or shami kebab.
Red meat may be taken twice a week.
Fish I will suggest not to have for Sehr because it makes you thirsty through the day.
Some proteins you already have in your dairy.
5. Vegetables
Upto 2 servings of vegetables
They can be salad going in your shami and roti roll, or chicken patty sandwich, or grilled or broiled side. Or even cooked salan.
Have cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, spinach, kulfa saag, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage etc in any combination but at least one cup filled/ one serving because it will give you all essential fibre plus nutrients.

Note:
It may sound like a lot of sehri, but when you will plate it out, it will make one plate. Plus there are options, like on a high carb day when you are having one cup porridge have two hard-boiled eggs too. You will understand better when I will give you plan. If it seems confusing do not try to follow, just grasp the basic principle, which is to have balanced nutritious plus healthy and clean diet. I will be making a plan following this guideline, so don't worry if it is confusing for you. There are some members who are experienced enough to make diet plans. They will understand this better.

Try to start coming off your caffeine addiction from now onwards, switch to decaf and decrease your intake so you do not suffer from migraine or headaches or lethargy due to lack of beverages during your long summer fast.
From Iftar till Sehr, keep yourself hydrated with lots of water. Do not drink too much just before sunrise because it causes frequent urination, leaving you dehydrated. Do not take detox water during Ramadan, it will also cause frequent visits to washroom leaving you dehydrated.
No red drinks, no sodas ( sprite or coke etc) no need to fill yourself with artificial colour and flavour and sugar. No chocolates, cakes cookies or samosa pakoras etc, no deep fried food. Absolute no even if you are eating out or at a friend's. You will have healthier options there, such as fruit salad, shallow fried kebabs, or BBQ or grilled steaks etc. People can be persuasive when they are trying to be good hosts, so fill your plate with healthy options so nobody feels you haven't eaten. Ask for plain water politely and decline any offers of fizzy or artificial drinks. I do it all the time so can you. You may treat yourself to a little bit of cheating if you really want something but do it after you had your fill with healthy food. This way you will control the portion.

Iftar
1. Water
It is Sunnah and a day's dehydration makes you want to have at least a glass of water first.
2. Fruits
 1-2 Dates
1 to 2 servings of seasonal fruits of your choice whether fruit salad or in smoothies
Try peach and papaya smoothy
3. Optional as in you may omit
One serving of any of the following healthy options
Chana chat, dahibarey (try baked or steamed baray), kebab, basically any healthy snack
4. Dairy
Once again optional you may have a smoothie made with yogurt or milk with or without some portion of fruit from your serving of fruit.

If you plan to workout after iftar, as I do after appx one hour of Iftar, it is great time because you can have dinner after it or you can also try before Sehr. Some people do it just before iftar, but workout during fasting is not recommended because your metabolism is slow and it is not as effective. There is debate over benefits of workout while fasting. As it is perceived there is faster fat loss. I guess it comes down to your personal preference and strength and stamina.

Dinner
Similar to Sehr! But you can omit fruits as you already had your portion in iftar.
You may have fish if you want as you can have water after your dinner if you feel thirsty.

PS this guideline will be appx 1200-1500 calories
400_500 Cals Sehr
200_300 Cals Iftar
Appx 400_ 500 Cals dinner
Depending on your portion sizes.
https://docs.google.com/document/ Ramadan Meal Plan Week 1
https://docs.google.com Ramadan Meal Plan Week 2