1 Smile. Be thankful and enjoy every meal that you eat.
2 Never skip breakfast. The most important meal of the day, activates brain cells and gives the much-needed energy to carry out daily tasks. Traditional parappu sadam (dal rice) with the right proportion of salt is extremely healthy besides the usual bread, dosa, idli, eggs, etc. Start the meal with a fruit because an empty stomach digests the fruit better than having it after a meal as the fruit becomes acidic.
3 Always eat when you are hungry. Never deny or postpone hunger!
4 Grab a small bite every now and then. Walnuts, almonds, power bars are good snacks to keep your body going and are a powerhouse of energy. Have them from time to time.
5 Never drink water during a meal. It dilutes the enzymes that aid digestion.
6 Drinking water to keep oneself hydrated when thirsty is a better idea than ensuring you have a certain amount of water by measuring it every day.
7 Ensure you wash your hands before and after a meal. It is preferable to eat with your hands as it helps motor coordination in your body and one can relish the foodconsumed.
8 Contrary to popular belief, it is healthy to start a meal with a sweet or dark chocolate as it appeases hunger and stimulates the secretion of hydrocholric acid necessary for digestion. So don’t just keep the sweets for the end. Start with it, too.
9 Eat half stomach always! Overeating induces lethargy.
10 Concentrate on the food you eat. It is important to relish what you enjoy. It is disrespectful to be occupied with something else as you eat.
11 Warm drinks after a meal is a good option. It prevents more effectively gastric imbalance and disorders than soft drinks that harden the food and make it difficult to breakdown and making it excessively acidic which hampers the proper assimilation of food.
12 Sitting upright and chewing every mouthful carefully before swallowing ensures that the breakdown is smooth and does not cause any problems in assimilation. It is the mouth that signals the secretion of the right enzymes needed for digesting the food. The process of digestion starts at the mouth and 20 % is complete here before it reaches other organs to complete the process.
13 The food that you consume should be well balanced. According to Ayurveda, in a week, the body should be exposed to sweet, salt, sour, bitter, pungent and astringent, as they are important tastes for the healthy nourishment of the body.
14 It is compulsory to have vegetables. They are a source of natural energy and provide strength and builds stamina.
15 Eating at the dining table or on the floor with folded legs is the right posture for digestion.
16 Avoid frozen food, re-heated food and dishes that come with preservatives, as far as possible. When you eat any of these, the necessary nutrients are lost.
17 Don’t lie on your stomach nor lie sideways because the pressing against the stomach is a hindrance to the process.
18 Never exercise immediately after a meal. Bathing three hours after a meal is good because the digestion process ends only then.
19 Try not to have a meal after 9pm. By then the body prepares itself for rest and if disturbed leads to bloating of the body which results in addition of overall weight.
20 End the meal with a betel leaf or saunf instead of soft drinks or ice cream.
2 Never skip breakfast. The most important meal of the day, activates brain cells and gives the much-needed energy to carry out daily tasks. Traditional parappu sadam (dal rice) with the right proportion of salt is extremely healthy besides the usual bread, dosa, idli, eggs, etc. Start the meal with a fruit because an empty stomach digests the fruit better than having it after a meal as the fruit becomes acidic.
3 Always eat when you are hungry. Never deny or postpone hunger!
4 Grab a small bite every now and then. Walnuts, almonds, power bars are good snacks to keep your body going and are a powerhouse of energy. Have them from time to time.
5 Never drink water during a meal. It dilutes the enzymes that aid digestion.
6 Drinking water to keep oneself hydrated when thirsty is a better idea than ensuring you have a certain amount of water by measuring it every day.
7 Ensure you wash your hands before and after a meal. It is preferable to eat with your hands as it helps motor coordination in your body and one can relish the foodconsumed.
8 Contrary to popular belief, it is healthy to start a meal with a sweet or dark chocolate as it appeases hunger and stimulates the secretion of hydrocholric acid necessary for digestion. So don’t just keep the sweets for the end. Start with it, too.
9 Eat half stomach always! Overeating induces lethargy.
10 Concentrate on the food you eat. It is important to relish what you enjoy. It is disrespectful to be occupied with something else as you eat.
11 Warm drinks after a meal is a good option. It prevents more effectively gastric imbalance and disorders than soft drinks that harden the food and make it difficult to breakdown and making it excessively acidic which hampers the proper assimilation of food.
12 Sitting upright and chewing every mouthful carefully before swallowing ensures that the breakdown is smooth and does not cause any problems in assimilation. It is the mouth that signals the secretion of the right enzymes needed for digesting the food. The process of digestion starts at the mouth and 20 % is complete here before it reaches other organs to complete the process.
13 The food that you consume should be well balanced. According to Ayurveda, in a week, the body should be exposed to sweet, salt, sour, bitter, pungent and astringent, as they are important tastes for the healthy nourishment of the body.
14 It is compulsory to have vegetables. They are a source of natural energy and provide strength and builds stamina.
15 Eating at the dining table or on the floor with folded legs is the right posture for digestion.
16 Avoid frozen food, re-heated food and dishes that come with preservatives, as far as possible. When you eat any of these, the necessary nutrients are lost.
17 Don’t lie on your stomach nor lie sideways because the pressing against the stomach is a hindrance to the process.
18 Never exercise immediately after a meal. Bathing three hours after a meal is good because the digestion process ends only then.
19 Try not to have a meal after 9pm. By then the body prepares itself for rest and if disturbed leads to bloating of the body which results in addition of overall weight.
20 End the meal with a betel leaf or saunf instead of soft drinks or ice cream.
— Contributed by Atul Jacob Isaac
[“source-ndtv”]
