Friday, June 15, 2012

surviving summer holidays


Easier said than done.
Going on a holiday means upset schedule and no exercise and fast foods. It’s really hard to resist the temptations of eating the wrong food at wrong times.
During some holidays you end up consuming alcohol along with high calorie food.

Allow yourself a break from your boring routine of always sticking to the DIET.

Here are some examples you can easily relate to:

·      You are out and the only place to eat is a pizzeria? Grab the most thin crust slice with vegetables or grilled chicken on top of the slice.
·      You are with friends and peer pressure makes you have extremely rich desserts? Grab a bite and share it with someone. Desserts are not meant to make you feel full. They are supposed to only change the taste of your tongue and feel nice.
·      You will not be able to exercise since there is not gym or weather doesn’t allow you to walk/run outside? All you need is 6ft x 6ft space and there are ample exercises that can be done by using your own body weight or resistance band or jump rope to keep the metabolism revved up by during the holidays.(refer to the exercises below at the end.
·      You are on the go and there are no healthy snacks available for you? Pack some protein bars and nuts before you leave for your holiday, they will surely come in handy.
·      Stay hydrated: Water not only elevates your mood also suppresses hunger since our hypothalamus cannot differentiate between hunger and thirst. And it’s a great natural diuretic after high sodium meals.
·      Take your vitamins like calcium and vit D with you, as holiday is no excuse for not taking them.
·      You have a hangover: easiest and cheapest thing to do is hydrate well in between drinks and also the following morning and have a decent carbohydrate intake in the morning since alcohol is known to cause hypoglycemia adding to the hangover. Eat alkaline foods like green vegetables, red and green peppers, asparagus, wheat germ, lemon, melons like honeydew and watermelon through out the day.
·      Keep your herbal tea intake up so carry green tea or herbal tea bags with you as hot water is always easy to find, stay away from too much caffeine or high fat dairy.
·      Always pack a pair of running shoes: they are easy to walk around and you never know when your mind changes to go out for a run.
·      Visiting your parents who always think you are losing weight: Its normal for most parents to overfeed their kids even when they have grown up. Best way to keep them happy and yourself fit is to eat a little of what they want to feed you (especially if it’s a high fat and high carb stuff) and keep adding un sweetened beverages like water or soup or herbal teas to fill your stomach.

Holiday Check list
1.     Vitamins and supplements
2.     Healthy snacks
3.     Resistance band
4.     Jump rope
5.     Protein bars
6.     Sugar free gum
7.     Green tea/herbal bags
8.     Running shoes just in case you want to run along the beach or in the jungle trails.


Exercises:
Push ups 3 sets of 20 each add to it by lifting one leg when you push down.
Tricep bench dips
Leg raises as if you are kicking high.
Stomach crunches atleast 40-60
Burpees atleast 30
Surya namaskar 25-30
Plain squats 50-70
Leaning your back against a wall while you squat and hold for 30- 40 seconds each time.
Jump rope imaginary or with a real rope to about 100-200 times.

All these don’t take much space or time and you will feel good at the same time you will be able to keep your metabolism quite high.

In the end if you do gain some pounds you know how to lose ‘em.

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