When to Eat Last Meal of the Day - Facts and Myths

One of the well known fact of being healthy is proper meal times and food that you eat. But these facts also carry myths along with them. You might have heard people saying that there is certain meals that you should eat in the evening and certain meals that you should avoid. You might also have heard that are certain times to eat your dinner and if you fail to do that, then you are destined for diet fail.

Well, to tell truth, people hear something, understand something else and spread something else entirely. This post is to especially made to make myths and facts clear about evening, dinner and sleep.

Consider two situations 

Situation 1: People mostly eat their dinner (or supper) and go to bed within an hour or two.
Situation 2: Those who stay for three to five hours after their last meal and then sleep.

If we consider situation 1, and go to bed directly within an hour after your last supper, your body will not burn enough food and will start accumulating as fat.
If we consider situation 2, and you stay late at night, most of your food is been consumed and the next meal you have will be after nine hours if you consider sleeping for even six hours after you take your dinner and stay awake for three hours (3+6 = 9 hours) and can extend to eleven to twelve hours depending on your sleeping time.
This means your body is starving and is in slow mode causing it to store fat, completely undoing all your hard work.

The myth about dinner TIME is not true at all. You can eat your last meal of the day any time you want. The important part is when you sleep. The truth is time between when you eat and when you fall asleep that is important to keep you healthy. Body needs to have enough calorie to get you a good sleep and also need to burn enough calories so that you don't store fat.

So, the question that comes is what is the perfect evening routine?

Simply follow these steps:

• Have your dinner at defined time daily to keep body clock balanced and maintained. A day or two can be exception, but if you are doing it on regular basis, you are in health danger zone
• Try to keep difference of two hours (average) between your last meal of the day and your sleeping time.
• Include protein heavy and be light on crabs and fat
• Avoid sugar, red meat, fizzy drinks
• Eat breakfast! (Read: 5 Reasons not to Skip your Breakfast) This is the first thing that you'll need to restore energy.

Follow these and you have a healthy evening.

10 Ways to Increase Metabolism

Proper metabolism helps you to stay healthy, disease free and lose weight (if you are fat) and proper energy release. A healthy metabolism system is one of those things in your system that you cannot ignore, no matter how healthy you eat or what exercises you do. Here are the simple ways to boost your metabolism and stay healthy and fit

1. Eat smaller meals: Meals are steady source of energy and you should take it more frequently and in smaller amount rather than less frequently and heavier meals.

2. Add spices: Spices help to increase metabolism ten to twenty times faster. Add spices to your meals and start raise your metabolic rate.

3. Drink Water: At least 8 glasses of water depending on your daily activity is must for better metabolism rate. Cold water helps to burn more calories than warm water as more energy is required to convert cold water to hot water.

4. Sleep enough: Depriving sleep can lead to overeating, change in metabolic rate and other related effects. Seven to nine hours of sleep depending on your day and activity can help you to increase metabolism rate.

5. Have Breakfast: Even to start metabolism in your body, small energy is required after a long break between two meals. Eating breakfast can help to give your body those required calories and start your beautiful morning.

6. Have breakfast like a king lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. This will help to make your body adaptable to your activity and allocate the optimum food according to your activity level.

7. Small Exercises: Just like small meals, small exercises can help to increase metabolism rate in your body. (Read: Workout Tips You Should Know)

8. No Sugar: If spices help to increase metabolism, sugar switch that to fat storage mode. Try to take only the required amount in your diet and avoid adding extra just because you like eating sweet

9. Try Herbs: You need to some research before trying some herbs. Depending on your body, herbs can help as well as harm your body. Proper quantity, time, duration between two doses is as essential as the herb itself. Consult a doctor if you are not sure about the herb.

10. Don't Starve: You can go on fasting mode once a week or once every month, but that does not mean you can starve. Lowering down below 1,000 calories can be starvation and will hamper your metabolism.

Changing your metabolism rate can be beneficial if done in proper way. If you are not sure about what you are doing and if you are doing it correct, consult your doctor before starting.

What is Fiber and Why is Fiber Important in Our Diet

The question that many people ask is what is fiber and what importance does it play for us to keep healthy?

The definition of fiber goes like this - It is an essential carbohydrate that cannot be digested by the human body. Fibers are found only in walls of plant cell.

So, the question that arises is of this carbohydrate is not digested, then why is it necessary in our diet?

The function of fiber depends on type of fiber we take in our diet.
The insoluble fiber passes through mouth till large intestine unchanged. This helps in growth of bacteria which makes waste material soft and bulky and helps to pass through large intestine more quickly. Insoluble fire also fights constipation by making stool pass more easily and quickly.

Soluble fiber helps in reducing level of cholesterol in the blood. It also help to slow down digestion and sudden release of energy. In layman's term, blood sugar level are maintained, energy and glucose are released slowly and keeps you energize for longer time.

So the right question now to ask is what are the sources?
The sources of insoluble fiber are breads, brown rice, vegetables, edible peels of fruit, whole grain cereals, nuts and seeds. The sources of soluble fiber are refined cereals and white bread, animal and dairy products, white bread and fast food.

How much fiber should I take?
Depending on your bowl moments, energy levels, daily activity, the intake can differ from person to person. Less intake or excess of intake can hamper your body and weight. Eating foods that are high in fiber will help keep you feeling fuller for longer. This may help you if you are trying to lose weight.

Latte Coffee Art - Weight Loss with Creativity

The video below is taken from YouTube and shows you art of making latte coffee.



So...maybe with losing few pounds you can also impress your friends with this art.

4 Before Workout Tips that You Should Know

An effective workout and results depend upon many factors. These include your body clock, physical and mental stress, proper technique and food. What you eat before and after workout is one of the essential elements to make you lean or to buff you up. This post is first part of two posts (before and after) about workout.

For maximum result from your workout these are simple 'things-to-do' that you can follow.

Time and Diet: If you are one of those who are early riser and hit the gym or tracks, you do not have enough time to get high source of energy. In this case you can eat high amount of carbohydrate rather than focusing on proteins. Carbs (fruits and juices like apples, oranges, bananas etc.) get digested easily and can help you with the required energy.
If you have enough time to go to gym, you have choices of food to eat which can contain carbs, proteins, fibers etc.
Basic Rule: Less time you have, lighter you should eat.
This study might help you understand more.

The Gym or Workout: Never hit the gym or try to do workout empty stomach. The stress that exercises need and your sugar level are not sufficient enough to match your workout. This may lead to hypoglycemia, a condition that will make you prone to fatigue.

Types of Body: If you are diabetic, you can workout soon (after 20 - 30 minutes) after a heavy meal. If you are a regular person, you should wait for two to three hours before you start working out. The simple reason behind this is, in diabetic sugar levels are already high and optimum sugar level is necessary for maximum workout results.

Prefer Simple Crabs: Simple carbohydrates are easy to break and convert for workout and hence are preferred if you are looking for a good diet source. The list of sources that contains simple crabs are given below.

• All fruits and vegetables (these are sources of natural sugar)
• biscuits, cakes and pastries
• chocolate
• honey and jams
• jellies
• brown and white cane sugar
• pizzas
• prepared foods and sauces
• soft drinks
• sweets and snack bars

Prefer natural sugar (fruits and vegetables) rather than refined sugar as refined sugar has other sweetness related side effects too.

If you are go to gym, doing exercises and still not getting results, you might be preparing yourself in a wrongful at the first place. (Read: Weightloss Tips You Should Never Follow) The bottom line is if you are going for a workout, eating anything or simple going empty stomach won't give you results. In order to burn calories, you need calories and healthy food is the best source.

5 Best Foods to Detox Your Body

We all are living in the era of toxic food and drinks. You at times might feel overindulged, sluggish, de-energized or just like lying on the bed. This might be the time that your body is giving you signals that you need to detox your body from these toxins.

These list of 5 food does not only help to detox your body but also to improve your energy levels, lose weight, boost your mood and make you more lively.

1. Lemon: Lemons are great source of vitamin C and is globally used for detoxing body. Not only lemon fight against diseases and free radicals, but also lemons is considered as great source for improving your immune system and making your skin healthy. A slice of lemon or a glass of lemon juice can help you regain that lost energy and cleanse your system.

2. Ginger: If you had the evening full of fatty food and alcohol or if you are getting that nausea feeling, nothing suits you better than ginger. Gingers are recommended source and are full of antioxidants. It can help you improve your digestion system as well as immune system. You can use ginger in ginger tea, or in fruit juice, whichever way you like.

3. Garlic: Garlic has a long history and is best known to cure heart diseases. Characteristics like being antiviral, antibacterial and antibiotic can help you to make your immune system grow stronger. You can eat it raw (recommended) or you can use it as a paste in salad or other food that can be eaten raw.

4. Beetroot: There are many benefits of eating beetroot. If you are one of those people who do not like eating, maybe you should think again. Beetroots are packed with iron, vitamin C, magnesium and make your skin, hair, liver and digestive system healthier. Also, beetroot helps in detoxification, making it one of the top five detox food. You can always eat beetroot in raw form, or salad or as beetroot juice.

5. Green Tea:Green Tea is known for its weight loss qualities. Buy only few know that it also helps in flushing toxins out of your body. The antioxidant property of green tea can help you to get healthy and also help to make your liver stronger and boost your immune system to fight against diseases.

You can use these and many more natural food like Watercress, brown rice, cabbage, fruits etc. to detox your body. You can take these as morning breakfast (Read: 5 Reasons not to Avoid Breakfast), or in lunch as salads or evening snacks with green tea or other creative ways you can think of.
Stay Healthy...stay Fit.

Weight Loss Tips You Should Never Follow

Having a perfect body is everybody's dream. Gaining those few kilos in right places or shedding those few extra pounds, in the frenzy of getting a great body many people follow an unhealthy routine. These unhealthy health tips are mostly advised by friends, seen on internet and TV or have been circulating as rumors. Below are few tips that you can read, understand and decide for yourself if you really want to try what people out there say about health, or if you are practicing it, do you want to continue it.

Pills: Pills for health gain or weight loss are growing popular in market. Health shows are one of the main culprits which show girls getting slim and guys getting buffed up using these pills and supplements. You might be able to turn your body close enough to what you expect of it in short run, but in long run, if will affect your body adversely.

Meals: Skipping or over eating over a meal is another trend that can be seen globally. By doing so, you hamper your body clock, send wrong signals to your glands and may ultimately make your gain more weight or make you more thin than you already are. Following a proper meal pattern daily, and never skipping it, is an essential part of being healthy, no matter what your thin girl friend or next door buffed hunk says.

Being Impatience: The body you see today is because of slow change in your routine. You might have become thin or become overweight, but not just in a week or in a fortnight. It took months to look the way you are looking now. So, if you want to get a great body, have patience, follow a healthy routine, have proper breakfast (Read: Healthy Breakfast Meals), lunch and dinner, exercise and give your body few months to show the changes.

Aggressive Exercise: Both sets of people (who want to gain weight and who want to lose weight) mostly try this option. By following an aggressive exercise pattern, you are doing long term damage to your body. You might get the result you are looking for quickly, but the body organs, glands and body clock does not tune well to your body well. You need to start will simple exercises and then slowly move to a aggressive routine only of your body permits. Always have a coach or trainer who can train you well. You can also do simple exercises to lose fat or to gain it.

Having these pointers as your daily life routine, you can not only achieve the target, but also ensure that you body is fit in the process with no damages in short or long term.
Stay healthy!

Healthy Breakfast Meals - 5 Reasons Not to Avoid Breakfast

After a long night without food, the first meal of the day that you have is called as Breakfast (the meal that breaks the fast). Breakfast is the important part of your daily life if you want to stay fit and healthy, both mentally and physically. Experts advice that we should not skip our breakfast. But there are many people out there who skip it and avoid taking breakfast.

If you are one of those who try to avoid the breakfast, here are the reasons why you should break the habit and start having your breakfast.

1. Breakfast gives you essential nutrients and minerals in the morning. This helps you to run your day and keeps you active. Cereals, fruits, milk, egg etc are great source of these nutrients. You might never get these nutrients in the first place if you skip breakfast.

2. Breakfast improves metabolism. It is function of body clock to drop down the sugar level in the morning. Body needs energy in the morning and needs fuel to keep it running after a long gap of last supper. Breakfast fills this gap and let your body enjoy something which you need to increase metabolism.

3. Breakfast helps you lose weight. Many people skip breakfast to lose weight. But research after having a breakfast shows different and alarming results. People tend to get fit and even lose weight when they have breakfast. Proper breakfast with some exercises that can help you lose fat can make you fit and toned sooner than you think.

4. Breakfast makes you perform better. If you are skipping breakfast, you tend to get hungry soon. This might lead to losing interest, loss of concentration and irritation that can affect your school or work performance. Breakfast makes your stomach fill and keep you active and more productive.

5. Breakfast helps to maintain insulin level. It is a known fact that insulin respond in a more hyper manner when one skip a meal and try to fill it next time. This leads to more insulin level in blood that can lead to metabolic disorder. This is one of the reasons why people get fat even when they skip meals. Taking breakfast help to maintain insulin level in the body and even reduce it if you know what to eat in breakfast.

Simple Exercises to Lose Hip fat

One of the most difficult places in the body to lose fat from is the hips. There are many people who try out new equipments and diet as well as diet supplements in the market to lose those extra pounds off their hips. But most of the times, they are inconsistent with diet and exercise, or do something wrong and ultimately gain nothing. Some easy tricks that you can do daily are given here to lose these extra fats from hips, and these are so easy that you already knew almost all of them (but never practice)

1. Jumping on trampoline is a great exercise for your legs, hips and stomach. You can start with jumping for two to three minutes and then increase the time period gradually.

2. Walk Daily for about half an hour to one hour. This increases your stamina, tones your muscles and keeps you active and fresh.

3. Twists and crunches can also help to tone abdominal and hip muscles. But you should not overdo it. Abdominal exercises are most effective when done three times a week.

4. Squats are simple and easy to do exercise to remove the unwanted fat. Just start upright and bend your knees to lower body. Go back to the original position. Start with 15 to 20 squats and increase the number as you feel comfortable. This exercise helps not only to reduce the hip fat but also makes your hips and legs stronger.

5. Cardio exercises are best way to burn belly and hip fat. A complete cardio exercise will help to speed up your metabolism as well as to reduce the hip fat.

With these simple exercises, you can get rid of those fats in weeks and start seeing the results sooner than you expect it.

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