The Brunette Diaries

How to resist the urge of eating junk food

Do you find yourself struggling to keep a diet going for more than a week? Do you give in to your cravings just a few days after making that almighty decision to go junk-food-free? Well, we’ve all been there. It’s a hard decision to make and even more difficult to stick to. After all, junk food is all around us on the streets, and is most often irresistible. Here are steps to follow so that you can slowly resist the urge of giving in to your cravings for junk food.

(Also read – Tricks to stop night snacking)

The excessive craving for chocolate stems from deficiency of magnesium in your diet

Identify your craving

According to diet specialists, a craving for a particular food may arise due to something lacking in your diet. For example, the chocolate craving is related to magnesium deficiency and the sugar craving is related to protein deficiency. You can eliminate these deficiencies to make sure you rid yourself of these cravings.

(You might find this interesting too – Are you obsessive about healthy food?)

Remove temptations

Stack your fridge with wholesome food rather than junk

Temptations are stronger when they are easily available. Keeping a pack of fried potato chips in your kitchen isn’t going to make things easy for you. Try this – go to the grocery store with a full stomach. This way you won’t bring home the usual junk that you bring that can tempt you to forget your diet.

(Try reading – Food that influences your weight)

Buy wholesome food

Most often, you give in because you find a shortage of wholesome food at home. Well, you have no one to blame. Stack your fridge with good, healthy and wholesome food so that you don’t have an excuse to binge on junk food.

Avoid boredom

Keep yourself busy so that you don’t binge due to boredom

Most people eat when they are bored. Keeping yourself busy will help you stay away from unnecessary snacking.

Drink water

Drinking plenty of water is very important. Usually, people confuse thirst with hunger and binge on something unnecessary. Dehydration can also cause unhealthy cravings.

Now that you know what to stay away from and what not to, consider indulging once in a while, just to satiate your taste buds.

Tips To Resist Junk Food

That constant struggle between fitness and fatness can get you really frustrated! The war of junk food cravings over health is one that almost everybody fights. If you do have certain fitness goals to achieve, it is important to abstain from, or reduce the intake of junk food, but at times the cravings seem too strong. Here’s how you can resist it.

(Also read – Super foods that help you lose weight)

Determine your weakness

A particular food may be your weakness. Figure out what it may be. For instance, I have a weakness for two-minute noodles. Figure out what is your junk food favourite and it will be easier to abstain from it.

(Also read – How to resist the urge of eating junk food)

Find your triggers

It is important to figure out what triggers you to indulge into junk food. The triggers may range from depression, boredom to medical conditions. Try to list down what exactly is your trigger, and if needed consult a doctor. You can also stay away from these triggers by keeping yourself busy.

Find replacements

If you frequently have a craving for a particular food, consider replacing that food with a healthier alternative that is quite similar. For example, if you love sweets, try indulging in mango, which is a healthier alternative and may be equally tasty.

(Also read – Food that influences your weight)

Eat regularly

Another way to stay away from junk food is by eating healthy regularly. By doing this, you don’t leave space for unnecessary binging, which involves junk food, usually. Plan smaller meals, probably 5-6 a day, instead of the usual 3 meals a day.

Half size your portion if you indulge

If you do indulge, try making the portions of your junk food lesser. Only take a few bites of your dessert, or share your dessert or meal with a friend or partner. You can even try eating it slowly so that the brain is satiated.

(Also read – Are you obsessive about healthy food?)

Exercise

Exercising will make you feel guilty to indulge in junk food. This is because you are putting in effort to lose weight. Exercise can balance blood sugar levels and ease your digestion as well.

Eat smart for easy weight loss

To lose those extra kilos, you do not have to starve yourself! Choose your food smartly and you will succeed. Here’s how you eat smart for easy weight loss.

Eat only because you are hungry

For everyone in this world, devouring a yummy chocolate is a sure-shot way of feeling good and overcoming that occasional gloom. But in that process, you tend to gather a lot of unwanted calories. Similarly, munching on chips or cheesy butter popcorn while watching a movie, also adds on to those tyres and baggy limbs. Thus, there is a difference between craving and feeling genuinely hungry. No, we’re not saying don’t give in to temptations. All that we are saying is, control your portions when it comes to craving. How? Have not more than a bite or two; and make these ‘bites’ last longer by eating extremely slowly and allowing your brain to register the taste and feel satiated.

Give in to your cravings, but control the portions

Downsize!

Downsize the shape and size of the plates you eat your food in. This will ensure a control in the portions you take. Keep a check on the number of meals you eat in a day. Break your daily intake over five-six small meals in a day rather than the usual three large meals.

Don’t overload your plate… and your tummy

Eating out

If you are dining out, opt for a smaller portion. Sharing or taking the food back home is a better idea, if you can’t avoid taking a small portion. Another way could be beginning your dinner with a non-creamy soup. Soups are delicious and filling, and will help you feel full sooner during the calorie-loaded main course. Buffets and unlimited thalis (repeat of dishes) are a complete no-no, as you tend to gorge on food to make full use of the money paid for it.

Don’t let the abundant spread at a buffet ruin your diet plan

Eat smart!

Watching what you eat is the easiest way to get rid of your dreaded muffin top. Avoiding oily stuff is the biggest key to weight loss. Ditto potatoes. If rice is the staple food in your household, then boil it and completely drain out the starchy water; this method of cooking rice is healthier than cooking it in a pressure cooker. Eating burgers and sandwiches sans butter and cheese also helps in avoiding extra calories. Pizzas and pastas should be strictly avoided. Your day should start with eating a healthy breakfast under 350 calories. Try and consume fat-burning food as they keep a check on your appetite, keep you from feeling famished and work on lowering the fat count in your body. Whenever you feel hungry between meals, munch on dry fruits and nuts as they make you feel full and also strengthen your muscles. Avoid the yellow and use only the whites in eggs. Use honey as sweetener in lieu of sugar. Guzzle down a mug of warm water before your lunch and dinner, as this will help you feel full faster.

Avoid oily food like these… and of course, potato!

All these are smart choices that can help you stay fit even when you are on-the-go. We wish you happy shedding of those last few extra kilos. All the best!

How to avoid weight gain due to a desk job

So it’s been a crazy-busy couple of weeks. You step on the scale one morning and, yikes! You’ve gained five pounds! How the heck did that happen? Well, research shows that what you weigh isn’t just the result of eating too much and exercising too little; it’s also linked to your feelings, your experiences, even where you live. Any change in your life circumstances can produce changes in eating and exercise, which leads to weight gain. This is more popularly known as ‘emotional eating’. Getting married and having kids are obvious triggers for weight gain, but there are other, more surprising transition points that can also influence your weight. This guide will see you through them all.

Also read: The expert’s guide to office makeup

You recently got promoted

The good news is that you love your new gig. And the bad news is that the big job is calling for a wardrobe in a bigger size! Chalk it up to stress, which prompts our bodies to release the hormones and insulin, which stimulate hunger. Usually in tense situations, we ignore the voice that tells us to eat healthy, and instead turn to high-calorie comfort foods. There’s only one solution: outsmart it. Bring a high-protein, fibre rich, fresh produce lunch, for instance; chicken salad, almonds and a orange, or yogurt and berries. The key is to choose foods that are satisfying.

Also make time for exercise. Yes, we know you’re too swamped, but we mean it. Working out or having an active lifestyle makes you more energized and helps reduce stress. If you don’t have time to hit the gym, go for a 15-minute brisk walk after lunch. Stand up and walk around for five-ten minutes at least once an hour. By moving frequently, you keep your major muscles working, which may ward off the negative effects of being sedentary.

Foods that can cool you down this summer

The summer can be unforgiving these days. We wonder if the sun is pissed off. While we can’t do anything to change the sun’s mood, we can at least do something to cool ourselves down after a hot day. Let us look at some foods that can help you cool down this summer.

Watermelon

With a high percentage of water, this fruit is healthy, cooling and refreshing as well. It contains a mere 50 calories per cup, so it clearly isn’t stacking on your calorie count if you are one who takes special care of that. Watermelon has immense health benefits, and having it as an excuse to cool off is a wonderful idea. Not to mention it is tasty too.

Yogurt

Yogurt is healthy, filling and will help cool you down on a hot and humid day. Be it frozen yogurt or just the usual one, yogurt can be a healthy and cooling breakfast, lunch dessert or evening snack.

Cucumber

Besides being used to cool off your skin on application, cucumbers can cool off your body as well. Cucumbers keep the body hydrated, and help in digestion as well, all of which is of utmost importance to brace yourself against a hot summer day.

Ice tea

The thought of tea on a hot summer day is frightening at times. But what if it is ice tea? Try this over the normal tea you are accustomed to, to ensure that you aren’t dehydrated. Switch out your hot morning tea for a glass of chilled iced tea, instead.

Salads

Green leafy vegetables with a sprinkle of olive oil can be a great way to indulge in a meal without the fear of it being heaty. Salads can leave you feeling cool and energized before or after a meal, as a meal, or even as an evening snack.

So if you are looking to cool down those struggling and sweaty pores that have been working all day while you were outside, this is a cool way. Yeah, it’s a cool way!

How to lose weight without hitting the gym

Losing weight takes a lot of discipline and determination, whether in the gym or outside it. Some of us just don’t have the time for hitting the gym. Or maybe we are just not a gym-person. So how do we get rid of all the excess fat reserved in our body? Follow these steps to achieve your desired weight without sweating it out.

Smaller meals:

Not all of us are conscious enough to count every calorie, so try to make your meal portions smaller. And bunk the second helping altogether. You can take shorter lunch breaks at work so that you don’t over-eat.

Avoid too much sweet:

If you really need to have a dessert after your meals then try to swap the ice-creams and cakes with a piece of dark chocolate. It’s a healthier option to satisfy your sweet tooth without piling up on the calories.

Move your butt:

Having a sedentary lifestyle can make losing weight very difficult. Take regular breaks every 2 hours to walk around the office. Skip the elevator and start taking the stairs whenever possible. Enrol for a fun weekend dance class. The more you move, the faster you lose that weight.

Sleep:

Sleep is more than just a pretty-making mechanism. Your digestive system is also pumping hard to process your food, metabolizing carbohydrates and breaking down fats. Some studies have linked sleep deprivation to weight problems; so the bottom line is – if you don’t want your ‘bottom’ to grow bigger, hit the sack at the earliest.

Have sex:

That’s right; sex is a great way to shed the extra calories. An average sex session burns 150 to 250 calories per half hour – depending on how hot, flexible and athletic your session was. Now don’t be disheartened even if you aren’t extremely acrobatic in love-making, as sex naturally gets your heart rate up, which in turn improves circulation and burns calories and fat.

Laugh while you still have teeth:

Last but not the least – laugh more! Laughing heartily five times a day has the same beneficial effects as ten minutes on a rowing machine. How great is that!