Check Weight Gain During Pregnancy

“Eat a little more for your baby”, elders advise you during those happy days.

    A balanced, nutritious diet is required at the time of pregnancy to ensure a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. As you eat a sumptuous meal you fall for your loved ones plea to eat a little more even when you are full. Result? Undesirable Weight Gain.

Everybody knows that weight gain is inevitable during pregnancy and will remain for a while after the delivery too. And it is not a safe idea to try to lose weight once you have conceived. Though you can indulge in the recommended exercises you got to keep eating the required quantity. Your doctor may even give you list from which you can “eat as you can”.

  You doctor may advise you to eat five to six small, frequent meals every day even if you don’t feel like or vomit. Additionally, you may need to keep some of your favourite snacks handy to satisfy your cravings and hunger. All these and many other things contribute to your weight gain. But what if you can control this undesirable and excessive weight gain in your own style? Here are some helpful/healthful tips you can discuss with your doctor.

• You will need milk but you can certainly avoid whole milk. Keep at low fat dairy products to keep the calories down.
• You may give in for sweets, cookies and ice creams, but not everyday. Cut down their quantities and varieties as far as possible. Sugary drinks including sodas, fruit punch, lemonade and the like give you zero nutrients and added calories.
• Remember to stick on to broiled meats (chicken breast sandwich with tomato and lettuce with no mayonnaise), low fat salad dressings, plain baked foods and the like. Turn a blind eye to fries and oily items.
• Cook in less oil and eat less fats. Use in moderation: oils, margarine, ghee, butter, gravy, sauces, mayonnaise, regular salad dressings, sauces, lard, sour cream and cream cheese. While cooking try baking, broiling,grilling or boiling instead of frying.
• Eat more of fresh fruits, low fat dairy products and low fat foods like pretzels. You don’t need unhealthy calories.
• Ask your health care provider for a suitable exercise you can do during pregnancy.

Many women find themselves in a difficult time as they reach their 40’s nearing menopause. It is a time of hormonal changes and hot flashes and weight loss would seem impossible at this age.

Pre-menopause age demands right kind of nutrition and care to avoid health risks like breast cancer, heart diseases, osteoporosis and so on. As the child bearing age passes, the production of hormone oestrogen also stops. The lack of female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone in the bloodstream is manifested in the form of symptoms of menopause.

The female hormones also play a vital role in keeping the woman healthy by protecting her heart and by keeping her bones strong.

Heart Health

• You should not weigh more than the recommended weight of your age. So watch your calorie intake strictly.
• No to high fat.
• Check your cholesterol with fibre rich foods like oatmeal, fruits and whole grains.
• Include nutritious foods like flax seeds (omega 3, fibre, phytochemicals), and almonds (calcium, vitamin e, magnesium) in your diet.

Cancer

• Lose weight  by a strict watch on what you eat and how much.
• Eat a fibrous diet.
• Reduce alcohol consumption.
• Get an adequate supply of vitamins, folates and minerals.

Osteoporosis

• Ask your doctor about taking calcium supplements. You may need to increase the intake of calcium from 800mg/day during pre-menopause to 1000mg/day after menopause.
• Take vitamin D rich foods.
• Reduce the number of smokes.
• Exercise regularly.

Take care, ladies!

Be Wise and Eat Age Wise (Part II)

   You are no more in your teens. You might have already realised that life is not about giggling and shopping but a colourful bunch of responsibilities. Your needs have changed and so too your outlook towards life. As your needs change, your lifestyle unfortunately changes too. This is the time you got to hit back to a healthy lifestyle with enough exercise and right food to prevent lifestyle diseases and chronic disorders.

   Managing weight is not a difficult thing at this age. It is an age where you need to increase your level of physical activity and consciously reduce the food intake and fat calories. 

Control Fats to Maintain Required Weight

Early twenties up to late thirties is not a good time to eat less and work more. You need a good pack of steady energy to keep yourself busy and active 24/7. So eat wise and lose weight as early as possible.

• Consume less oil. ‘Oil’ does include all kinds of saturated oils. Ideas for cooking with less oil is not limited. Grilling, baking, poaching and steaming work well! Using a half portion of onion can help your food not getting stuck to the non-stick cookware.
• Stick on to low-fat dairy products for the adults while giving the children full milk products. Three servings or 600 ml of dairy products per day is ideal.
• Restrict your fat intake, as far as possible, to polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Vegetable oil, nuts, fish etc. are great sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Only 35 per cent of your calories should come from fats.
• It is the golden rule to limit your trans fatty acid intake up to 10 per cent of your total daily calories.

Watch your Carbohydrates

• Ideally, you should consume 3 or more servings (1 serving = approximately 28g) of whole grains a day.
• Cultivate the habit of having salads in your children as well.
• Be liberal with fruits, veggies and whole grains. This will ensure the much required fibre for your body.
• Eat enough of starchy foods for a healthy brain and muscles.
• Go for artificial sweeteners.

Everything Else

• Consume alcohol in moderation. Be aware that even alcohol adds up to your calorie intake.
• Preferably, only less than 2,300mg of salt/sodium should be taken in a day. Count your pickles, salt in the foods and processed foods.
• Since potassium plays a major role in preventing high blood pressure, building muscle and regulating our heartbeat eat bananas, mushrooms, potatoes and sweet potatoes with skin, dairy foods, green leafy vegetables etc. You will need 4.7 grams of potassium a day.

Be Wise and Eat Age Wise (Part I)

This post is for women folk who need some assistance in weight loss without sacrificing their nutritional requirements. Sorry to disappoint you, guys! I will soon write a better post for you.

Now, why for women alone? Mainly because, a woman’s body is more prone to changes than a man’s- during the time of her puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause. By eating the right food and following a healthy and a little more disciplined lifestyle women can reduce the effects of the adolescent changes, PMS, Pre-menopause and menopause.

On a healthy body can fortify itself against diseases and illnesses, and repair and heal itself. In order to be healthy, it needs the adequate nutrition, physical activity, rest and the accurate weight!!!

Teens

You can control your weight and keep obesity at bay if you start yours/your child’s diet in a well defined plan. Teenage is the dangerous of all times. A teen will be under tremendous pressure from his or her peers, the media and the entertainment. Even a teen’s eating habit will be ‘trendy’. He will busy browsing while she will be busy on the phone giggling. As she giggles her body undergoes a tremendous change bringing her into womanhood.

At the moment, it is the parent’s responsibility to watch her diet habits and nutrition requirements.

Diet for Teens

1. Minimize junk food and carbonated drinks.
2. Reduce fried foods to once a week. Save it for Sunday.
3. Make salad a habit! Raw fruits and vegetables as early as in your teens will do you a lot of good.
4. Low-fat dairy projects can make great snacks.
5. Watch her calories and her educated about calories and weight requirements.
6. Look out for protein. The daily protein recommendation for adolescents is 0.3 gm for 1 cm height.
7. It is a misconception if you think that women need calcium only in their middle age. About 45 per cent of one’s skeletal mass gets added during one’s puberty and adolescence. A woman needs calcium from the time of her to the adult years. The recommended intake is approximately 1,300mg for adolescents per day
8. Don’t be anaemic! It is a time when you work hard and eat less. With menstruation an adolescent female will require 1.3 mg/day.
9. If you are a vegetarian you may find yourself deficient in not only protein but also zinc. Acne can be a result of low zinc levels. Ask your doctor about multivitamin supplements.
10. Try to eat a complete balanced diet to cover all your vitamin needs.
11. Encourage your girl to attend yoga classes, dance classes and outdoor games. Along with nutrition, make sure your girl is getting regular physical activity!