Anuradha Varanasi
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Written By: Anuradha Varanasi | Published : January 21, 2016 6:06 PM IST
You are now almost one week away from completing an entire month of trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle. By now, your mind and body are completely acclimatised to waking up early, consciously eating healthier and exercising for an hour at least every alternate day. In order to stay on track and not deviate due to your hectic lifestyle, you could try maintaining a rough timetable of your day-to-day routines so you can continue reminding and motivating yourself.
Morning: Start your day with a handful of walnuts. This is because walnuts are effective at keeping diabetes, Alzheimer s and heart diseases at bay. Other than that, walnuts are also effective in keeping food cravings under check as it is loaded with magnesium, iron and vitamin B-6 which makes it effective in helping you achieve glowing skin and healthier hair. In fact, contrary to popular belief, walnuts can actually aid in weight loss. Various studies have found that an ounce of walnuts also contains 2.5 g of omega-3 fatty acids, 4 g of protein and 2 g of fibre.
Healthy Recipes
Breakfast: You can beat all cravings for sweets and other forms of junk food you might have been having by baking yourself a banana, oats and walnut muffin. Since you already had a handful of walnuts shortly after waking up, you can consider reducing the quantity by half an ounce. However, all three ingredients are extremely high on fibre and make for an excellent way to kickstart your day. The best part about these muffins is that it shouldn t take more than 35 minutes to prepare as the baking time is only 15 minutes.
Lunch: After that scrumptious breakfast, by lunch time you will work up a good appetite. You can keep this day walnut themed and have grilled vegetables with walnut sauce post noon. As this dish includes broccoli, zucchini and bell peppers, you should almost be able to meet your fibre requirements for the day. If you don t have zucchini at home, you could use doodhi or bottle gourd. The best part about this dish is that it won t take more than 20 minutes to get ready which makes it ideal for a workday.
Dinner: By late evening, your body s metabolism tends to slow down drastically so it is best to avoid eating heavy or oily foods altogether.Since you have been regulating your diet since the beginning of the month, by now the frequency of your hunger pangs should start reducing drastically. So, you could try having something light for dinner like this organic almond and broccoli soup.
Snacks: Post lunch, don t panic if you get intense hunger pangs. It is completely normal especially if you have continuously been working, whether at home or office. You can just make yourself this quick and easy recipe of baked channa or chickpeas. For this, remember to prepare the day before since the chickpeas need to be soaked overnight. One way to ensure that your snacks always stay healthy is by keeping a bowl of soaked chickpeas in your fridge at all times. Make sure to consume it within a week or else it can get spoiled earlier than other foods. The best part about this dish is that it is 100% cholesterol free and high in fibre.
Exercise: By now all the soreness in your body has worn off. It is important not to stop exercising and going to the gym at least thrice a week because at this point if you stop, it will be difficult to start from scratch all over again. Instead, keep up the good work and continue exercising because here on, it gets easier since your muscles are active again.
At home: You might have started noticing that you ve lost an inch or two by now especially if you have been following the diet provided in our fitness plans. However, the most difficult part is losing that stubborn belly fat. For many people, the very thought of doing crunches seems tedious. Instead, you could try these 10 standing abs exercises.
Yoga: You could try doing ardha chandraasana or the half moon pose. This yoga asana is great for toning your buttocks and thighs while getting rid of those love handles! Here are the steps to do this yoga pose.
Sleep: Before you hit the sack, take out your journal and make a timetable for the next day. This will include everything from what time you will wake up, when you will start preparing your healthy meals for the day and also which tasks should be completed by what time. By setting deadlines for yourself throughout the day, you re training your mind to stop procrastinating and start doing. If you re having trouble sleeping, read a book of your choice and before you know it, you will start feeling sleepy and drowsy after a long day of eating healthy.
Well, if you are motivated to start your New Year with a bang, spread the word by tagging your friends and #NewYearNewYou and @HealthSite4U. You can even mail your pictures and we ll post in on Facebook, Instagram and share it with our TheHealthSite.com Community.
Disclaimer: If you follow a fitness plan already, consult your nutritionist before switching to this one. If you are allergic to any of the foods/ingredients mentioned, please do not consume it. Do not follow this plan without consulting your doctor if you suffer from a health condition hypertension, hypotension, diabetes, etc. or are pregnant.
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