You would definitely agree that Food or dietary habits and lifestyle have a lot of bearing on the overall state of health of an individual. Generally speaking, good dietary habits lead to good physical as well as mental health while bad dietary habits lead to bad overall health. Since every individual has a different understanding of what constitutes good health, this is the reason why you should start by defining your personal health goals or objectives you wish to achieve for yourself. Each individual has different food habits in terms of choice or preference of food items and timings of meals both of which have a definite impact on the overall health of a person. When it comes to an individual’s lifestyle, does everyone follow the same pattern of physical activity, sleep and professional demands? No two individuals are alike and this is the reason why each person has a customized counselling, prescription and advice that suits him and works best for him. Please note that any diet plan would require no ordinary commitment from your side, so be prepared to show your commitment if your wish to enjoy the benefits of great health.

Commitment should be steadfast that shows your rock-solid resolve to your own great health just like you show on your professional front. A commitment that stands the test of time, today, tomorrow and always. It should not come under fire for every small reason and too often. It also stands tall and erect in the face of onslaught of delicious and delectable foods of all the bad variety, unhealthy and unhygienic. Once in a while, say few weeks or a couple of months, you can afford to lower your guards and indulge in binge eating to soothe your parched taste buds. The same does not hold true for unhygienic food. A single bite of unhygienic but supposedly healthy food, can lead you to dire consequences. For example, fruits cut and foods prepared in the open might come laden with dirt, silica, carbon and germs.

[ Also Read: Consume fruits and vegetables for a longer and healthier lifespan ]      

Old habits don’t die fast, they continue well beyond the limits of time and space. You might have had a kind of breakfast in your youth at your native place. Even after moving to a different place and in a new profession, you might have been maintaining your previous food habits, for example stuffed paranthas with copious quantities of butter or ghee, full eggs, spicy deep fried pakoras etc. might still be adorning your breakfast menu. What you should realise is that your environment and lifestyle has undergone a sea change and therefore your food as well as food habits should keep pace with the change so that both are in harmony with each other.    

Modern day professionals are constantly exposed and subjected to stressful work schedules on the workdays while weekends are packed with parties that spill over to small hours the next day. These parties have become commonplace for young professionals as this is the only way to unwind and squeeze out the tiredness with surfeit of oily and spicy food and overflowing liquor being on the house. Consequently, you cannot tear yourself away from the charm and pleasure these foods and hog to your heart’s content, slow and long until it is time to head for home. At a young age you are completely oblivious of and unexposed to the harmful after-effects of this kind of unhealthy weekly routine. As age catches up, its effects become perceptible and visible all too clearly, bloating, insomnia, constipation, acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion etc. Can such a lifestyle continue unabated without commensurate exercise and workouts at a local gym to drain all the bad fats accumulated in your body? 

When you come back home after day’s slog, the first thing you feel is that you are dead hungry and you reach out for something to kill the hunger pangs. In this process, you fail to consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of kind of foods available to you and consequently grab anything that serves immediate purpose at hand. You just hog whatever you can lay your hands on no matter what happens to you in the aftermath. You pick up what is most convenient and in most cases it is the packaged foods like namkeen or bhujia and dig deeper into them till they disappear without leaving a trace. Even though most people admit that this habit of theirs is egregiously unhealthy but at the same time express their inability to give it up altogether. What can you do to help yourself? You can turn this threat into an opportunity by mending your ways. Keep your refrigerator well stocked with seasonal fruits of at least 4 to 5 varieties and raw sprouts. Once you are back home, you can pick up 2 or 3 different fruits and or sprouts to satisfy your cravings without the fear of consuming unhealthy or unhygienic stuff, followed by home cooked dinner an hour or so later.

[ Also Read: Stay natural stay blessed ]

You often do not read the food labels that give a wealth of information about the composition of the foods you intend to buy, even if you do read at times, you do not care much. What matters are a couple of contents that you are aware of and have frequently heard, such as cholesterol, fats and sugars. Every other thing mentioned on the label makes no sense to you and you hardly consider them. Out of all the ingredients mentioned on the label, Trans Fats is the most harmful of them all. Let us find out why is it so?

Hydrogenated vegetable oils are a source of trans fats or trans fatty acids. Vegetable oils when puffed with hydrogen convert into Ghee or clarified butter. Most commercial foods like bakery items might contain trans fats. Saturated trans fats are known to have no beneficial effects on our health, hence are totally avoidable. On the contrary these are bad for the health of your hearth and raises the risk of heart disease by clogging the coronary artery. Saturated trans fats raise bad cholesterol or LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins) and simultaneously lower good cholesterol or HDL (High Density Lipoproteins). However, unsaturated fatty acids occur naturally and are beneficial for over all health. These are found in avocado nuts and vegetable oils such as canola and olive oils. Coconut oil contains a high proportion of an acid called as lauric acid which is a saturated fat and raises total blood cholesterol. Avoiding trans fats is the only choice you have.

It is high time that you change your food and dietary habits for good and enjoy the benefits of good overall health. Can I see your commitment here?