HindustanTimes Fri,20 Dec 2013
Dine your way to health
Shikha Sharma, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, July 13, 2012
First Published: 11:12 IST(13/7/2012)
Last Updated: 19:46 IST(14/7/2012)
We all know that life in a big city gets very hectic. Sleep deprived, hurried mornings, long office hours, endless cups of coffee, late lunch and even later dinner. In this entire routine, what suffers is your eating habit and overall nutrition.

The question is how to balance healthy eating
habits and our not-so-healthy lifestyle. The answer lies somewhere between making responsible food choices, planning and trying nutritious recipes, and motivating yourself and your family to take control of their health.

saladSuperfoods help in balancing the deficiencies, fasting or detoxification, at least once a week, helps cleanse your system and drinking water hydrates your system. Antioxidants help to improve digestion and metabolism.

Normally, most people plan their day’s meal at breakfast. But the real planning should start at dinner time. Plan a healthy dinner and simultaneously plan your breakfast. That way you can eat a good dinner and build an appetite for breakfast.

How dinner helps digestion:
-The reason why dinner time is very important is because it governs our digestion and energy levels for the next day.

- Dinner is the only time in the day when we sit down and relax over a meal after a long day’s work. And, when we plan the next day at dinner, it usually goes off well.

- Whatever you eat for dinner gets absorbed all night.

- Studies have proven that heavy dinner is associated with early morning heart attacks, late night asthma attacks, accelerated obesity, increased risk of diabetes and decreased performance at workplace.

-The body rejuvenates and repairs itself at night. So, eat light. When you get home from work, do not snack on packaged food which is not only unhealthy but also very fattening.

Juice-At dinner, opt for foods which do not have too many kapha elements. Kapha elements are found in heavy dals, oils and fat, cheese, cream, white rice, fried foods and maida.

Nutrition and sleep matter
It is important that the entire family learns how to balance health and taste. Many recipes are possible like mung sprout with bhelpuri, boiled aloo chaat, steamed brown rice idlis, steamed rice dumplings, dhokla, chatpata wheat poha and multigrain vegetable sandwich.

It is also important to consume superfoods which help us to heal and restore our health efficiently. Superfoods such as spirulina, wheat grass juice, barley grass juice, aloe vera, amla, sprouts and tulsi are great for your overall nutrition.

Some food combinations like mixed vegetable juice (amla, beetroot, bottle guard, cucumber, ginger ) and liver rejuvenating herbs like ashwagandha and milk thistle are also important source of minerals and enzymes.

Sleep is very important part of digestion and rejuvenation. People who are chronically sleep deprived are more likely to binge eat and gain weight. At least 6-8 hours of sleep is required for rejuvenation and healing.

Regular exercise is also necessary for stress management and fitness. Managing stress is one of the crucial links between being genuinely healthy versus just being disease free.

Superfoods help in balancing the deficiencies, healing and restoring health efficiently

1. Spirulina
2. Wheat grass juice
3. Barley grass juice
4. Aloe vera
5. Amla
6. Sprouts
7. Tulsi

Good food choices
1. Green salad
2. Brown rice idlis with mint chutney
3. Steamed mung sprout chat 
4. Sautéed vegetables
5. Rice flour momos stuffed with spinach and mushrooms
6. Mung dal soup with wheat dalia poha (spiced with cumin, curry patta and lemon juice) with salad

From HT Brunch, July 15

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