Diet And Exercise

Yoga and Walk
Q: I am a 26-year-old girl with height 5'6 inches and weight about 68kg. For weight loss the doctor has advised me to add more physical activity in my sedentary lifestyle. I have started doing yoga and walking 30 minutes daily. Am I on the right path of weight reduction? Anonymous
A: According to your details, you need to reduce about 10 to15kg. There are a few things which you have to keep in mind besides burning calories through exercise. Try to eat nutrient dense foods within caloric needs. Limit your intake of saturated and trans fats, artificial sweeteners, cholesterol and salt. It is good that you have become more physically active. Regular exercise is an important factor in keeping your weight in control and keeping your body in shape. You will have to follow a healthy food plan and you will have to move a lot to lose. Yoga besides providing physical strength will also relieve your stress level and make your body flexible. You will have to make - smart food choices during the day. Go for a brown bread sandwich for breakfast, take fruits and vegetables for lunch and chicken and yogurt for dinner.

Diet Plan and Exercise
Q: I am an 18-year-old girl with height 5 feet 6 inches and weight 58kg. Please recommend a diet and exercise plan for weight loss. I especially want to reduce my lower belly fat. Ayesha
A: According to the details, you just need to lose 3kgs. It is not a big target and I am sure you can easily achieve it by cutting down excess fat from your diet. Try to add more fibre in your diet to lose weight. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are all fibre rich. Your diet should be low in fat and calories. It will be good for you to follow a 1200 calories diet plan. You can also take high protein foods in diet such as milk, eggs, fish and low fat milk. For lunch and dinner take vegetables and beans. Reschedule your day and add aerobic exercises of 30-40 minutes in your daily routine.

Brisk Walk
Q: I have often heard people saying that only the fast walk helps in weight reduction. Can you please tell how long should I walk to lose weight? Sonia Ali
A: A person can get amazing results in weight reduction through aerobic exercise that mainly includes walking, jogging and running. Many people want to walk but they don't actually know how to go for walk and what is the real method. There is a very famous phenomenon relevant to walking called as POW, which stands for plain old walking. It includes aerobics, strength training and flexibility, which are important for the burning of calories. I would suggest you to go for it. POW begins with a warm up of 5 minutes, slow walking for 5 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of fast walk and 5 minutes breathing for relaxation. Repeat the process again and your total workout will be 40 minutes. It will be better if you follow POW at least 5 days a week. In the question you particularly have asked about brisk walking, which actually means a walk in which you feel breathless, your heart beat increases and you sweat. This way you can burn 400 calories per hour and naturally half of the calories would be burnt in half an hour.

Need Help!
Q: I am an 18-year-old girl with weight 58kg and height 5 feet 2 inches. Can you suggest a diet plan for me to lose weight? Maleeha
A: When selecting a diet plan, make sure you are consuming a balanced and complete diet. Your assignment is to set realistic and attainable diet goals. Just count the calories and eat less. There's no real restriction on the types of food you eat, but just remember to keep watching those calories. Following is the diet plan for you. Take a slice of brown bread with a boiled egg for breakfast. You can take a plain chappati with sabzi for lunch and chappati with chicken for dinner. Daily oil intake should not be more than 2tbsps. If you feel hungry you can take walnuts, almonds, apples, cucumbers or any other fruits/vegetables as snacks. Go for a brisk walk daily for 30 minutes. Cut down your sugar intake. If you are a rice lover then there is good news for you. You can have boiled rice twice a week with vegetables. You can also consume low fat yogurt and low calorie jams for breakfast. Instead of tea or coffee take green tea at least twice a day. For hunger pangs you can also take fresh home made vegetable soups.

Stomachache
Q: I am an 18-year old girl. My problem is that my stomach makes strange noises. I can't tell you how embarrassed I feel whenever it happens. I think may be it is happening because I am not having a homemade food. Can you please tell me what are the causes behind such strange noises in my stomach? What can I do to stop them? Is there any kind of food which will help me with this problem? Anonymous
A: Well it is not very strange to have such voices from your stomach but it is important for you to immediately consult a gastroenterologist for your problem. It is not good for you to bear this pain and wait for an answer or a diet to help you come out of it. You need proper medicine which can relieve your pain. In the mean time you also need to make some changes in your dietary habits. Try to eat homemade food and drink boiled water. Limit the intake of sugary foods or snacks. It will be better to eat a banana daily along with home made khitchri. Avoid oily and spicy foods. In your case we will be requiring a proper diagnosis of your condition and then the diet plan will be given accordingly. If your pain is not relieved by the intake of medicines then your gastroenterologist might suggest an endoscopy for you. Then I will suggest a suitable diet plan for you according to your condition.

Skimmed Milk
Q: Can regular milk be skimmed at home if we remove the cream that comes on the top of boiled milk? Rozina
A: Yes, of course milk can be skimmed at home. Milk is a very important source of protein and calcium. A single glass of milk supplies about a quarter of daily protein and vitamin D. Whole milk is rich in fat. Fat accounts for half the calories in milk, almost all of which is saturated fat. Low fat milk is as nutritious as whole milk except that most of the vitamins A and D are lost when fat is removed but only in the case of fortified and low fat milks available in markets. Skimmed milk contains nearly all of the protein and minerals contained in whole milk. People like you who wish to reduce their saturated fat intake should drink low fat milk in place of whole milk and consume butter and cream only rarely.
For ladies who boil milk at home the best option should be to at least boil milk three times and remove cream every time the milk cools down after boiling and cream comes on it surface. This saves you from consumption of excess fat. This also reduces the calorie intake. Some milk products are nearly all fat, about two thirds of the calories in cream are fat and butter is 100 per cent milk fat.