Nutrition – Page 2

Everything About Pre & Post Workout Nutrition

August 21, 2022

by pehlehealth with 20 Comments Lifestyle Nutrition

There is a lot of confusion about Pre and post-workout nutrition. Let’s clear them in this article once and for all.

However, as always let’s get the basics right first –

Basics about Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition

The role of a pre-workout is to provide sustained energy during training.

Any carbohydrate-rich food is an excellent pre-workout source.

Eat any fast-digesting carb if you have 45 minutes or less for your workout and any slow-digesting or complex carbohydrate if you have roughly 2 hours left for training.

There is a notion that if you don’t consume protein before workout, you will lose muscle during training however, that is not the case as long as you’re meeting your protein requirement for the day.

The role of a good post-workout is to ensure recovery, muscle retention & growth.

Any combination of carbohydrate and protein-rich food is a good post-workout.

Though the role of fat is limited around workout, however, fat will not hamper your progress and gains. But just like complex carbohydrates, fats also take time to digest, so don’t have any fat-rich meals closer to the workout.

Morning Pre-Workout

Mornings are usually busy with less time at hand, so a fast-digesting carb makes sense.

In the morning – a black coffee alone or along with some fast digesting carbohydrates like fruit (banana, apple, or any other), fruit juice, dried fruit, etc. will work.

Morning Post Workout

After the workout, ensure that you’re getting a good supply of complete protein sources (whey or plant protein, egg, dairy such as milk, chicken, fish, paneer, curd, tofu, soy). Combine protein with any simple or complex carbohydrate – banana, potatoes, bread, or any other regular breakfast option.

Some meal options could be (These are just ideas. adjust quantities as per your appetite and goals) –

1 scoop whey or plant protein + bananas

1/2 scoop whey + bananas + milk (blend)

3 egg whites + 2 whole eggs + banana or boiled potatoes

smoothie – banana + 20g sattu + 1/2 scoop whey + 16g peanut butter + milk (blend)

2 whole wheat bread + (70g paneer or 70g tofu or 70g grilled chicken or 2 eggs or 32g peanut butter) + milk

In case you just want to have a breakfast that’s cooked at your house. Then ensure that you’re getting at least 20g of protein in this meal using the sources mentioned above in the required quantity.

Quantity of protein foods required to get 20g protein –

Whey/Plant protein powder – 30g – 22g protein

Soy chunk – 40g – 21g protein

Soybean dal – 45g – 20g protein

Whole Egg – 3 – 19g protein

Egg White – 6 – 22g protein

Tofu – 100g – 18g protein

Paneer – 100g – 19g protein

Chicken breast – 100g – 22g protein

Milk – 600 ml – 20g protein

Dahi – 600g – 19g protein

Combine this with any regular breakfast such as parantha, cheela, idli, dosa, uttapam, dalia, thepla, muesli, litti chokha, etc.

Evening Pre-Workout

All morning options will work even for your evening pre and post-workout meals. But here’s the approach you can follow for your evening workout meals.

If you have 2-3 hours for training, you probably don’t need a post-workout. Just ensure sufficient quality protein at lunch.

If needed, copy morning pre-workout options here as well. (coffee or/and fast-digesting carb)

As mentioned earlier, the role of a pre-workout is to provide sustained energy during a workout, so if you feel a lack of energy in the second half better consume anything.

If the time gap between lunch and workout is around 1.5 hours, consume any complex carb before workout.

Sattu, roasted chana, makhana, peanuts, roti or bread peanut butter, boiled potato, curd potato, boiled chana, and soaked moong are all good options.

If 40 minutes or less to workout, copy morning pre-workout options.

Evening Post-Workout

If there is 3-4 hours time gap between workout and meal (dinner), consume any protein source such as whey or plant protein, milk, eggs, tofu, paneer, fish, chicken, or protein bar after your workout, and then proceed with regular dinner later.

You can also make a post-workout shake as well.

If you eat dinner within 1-1.5 hours of the workout then no need for a post-workout.

Have your regular meal and ensure at least 20g of complete protein in this meal.

Important things about nutrition around workouts

If you’re a beginner, increase your protein intake gradually, otherwise, you may experience digestive issues.
Protein intake of 1.2g-2g/kg of body weight is optimal for muscle growth. Find your range by experimenting with different quantities. So if you’re 80kg, your protein requirement is between 96-160g.
It’s not mandatory to have your protein immediately after a workout. You can have it later as well.
Completing your protein requirement for the day is absolutely important.
Distributing protein across meals will further help for better gains. At least 20g of quality protein is found to be beneficial.
For building lean muscle, around 200-300 calorie surplus from your maintenance calories is a good range to ensure maximum muscle and minimal fat gain.
Adjust quantities for all foods as per your requirements & goals using any calorie tracker.

Conclusion

So in order of priority, completing your protein comes first, followed by distribution across meals, a surplus of 300 calories and sufficient rest is all that matters for building muscle.

10 Healthy Snacks Under 200 Calories

August 11, 2022

by pehlehealth with 18 Comments Lifestyle Nutrition

Consuming low-calorie snacks between meals is a matter of enhancing your nutrition knowledge and using a food scale.

We’re giving you 10 options in this article. Rest you can get creative, quantify your food and use a calorie-counting app to find the right combinations for you.

1. Nuts

Nuts are both calorie and nutrient-dense foods with about 600 calories per 100g, So, quantifying them is absolutely necessary to stay within your calorie limit.

25g of any nut such as cashew, almond, walnut, etc. will give about 160-170 calories. Rest calories can be filled with 10g raisin or 2 small dates.

2. Bread Peanut butter

One whole wheat bread slice is about 77 calories. Apply any 15g all-natural peanut butter giving about 100 calories and get 175 calories from this snack.

You can also apply 15g peanut butter on roti (95 cal) or a combination with 1 brown rice cake (35 cal) will work just as well.

3. Chai makhana

Chai makhana is a popular Indian snack combination. Makhana being low in calories will just give 87 calories per 25g. For tea, 125 ml of milk (70 cal) & a teaspoon of sweetener (30 cal) will help stay within 200 calorie limit.

You can replace makhana with the same amount of popcorn or 20g roasted chana.

4. Boiled egg

2 hard-boiled eggs give 77 cal per piece.

You can make a combo of 1 boiled egg (77 cal) & whole wheat bread (77 Cal) as well.

5. Peanut chat

For peanut chat, use 25g roasted peanuts (142 cal), 1 onion (28 cal), 1 tomato (20 cal), then some salt & spices for the mix. Done.

Another variation of this is -15g peanuts (85 cal), 15g puffed rice (50 cal), 1 onion (28 cal), 1 tomato (20 cal), then some salt & spices for the mix. Done.

6. Curd (Yogurt)

To increase the flow of healthy bacteria in your intestines, curd is one of the cheapest alternatives.

200g curd (124 cal) & 1 teaspoon sweetener (20-30 cal) is a great snack that will come in under 200 calories.

Some other variations of curd –

200g curd (124 cal) & 20g Raisin (62 cal)

200g curd (124 cal) & small apple (60 cal)

200g curd (124 cal), small mango (80 cal) and blend together to make a mango lassi.

7. Potato

Boil any medium size potato (about 100g) and get 100 cal.

And in case you don’t know, potatoes have the highest satiety index (SI – 323) – meaning they keep you full for much longer than other foods. (1)

Cut & combine it with 100g curd to get additional 62 cal and still stay less than 200 calories.

8. Fruit

Either 2 medium bananas, 2 medium apples, or 300-350g fruit chat, will all come under 200 calories.

9. Milk

This one’s easy. Just 250-300 ml (150-180 cal) of this filling drink is good enough to give you good amount of protein & several micronutrients – all under 200 calories.

10. Sprouts

Last up, sprouts. Moong is usually the easiest to make, so, soak 35 g moong (117 cal) for about 12 hours, then pack it nicely in a muslin cloth for another 12 hours.

That’s it. Your sprouts will be ready. Now, combine them with 1 onion, 1 tomato, salt, & spices to make sprout chat.

In conclusion, healthy snacking is about 2 things only – (1) choosing the right ingredient & (2) consuming in moderation.

Mistakes You’re Making In Fixing Skinny Fat And Doing It The Right Way!

August 7, 2022

by pehlehealth with 9 Comments Lifestyle Nutrition

Skinny fat is majorly a lifestyle situation that can be fixed obviously by lifestyle modifications.

But mistakes, most people make when trying to get rid of skinny fat is that they attempt to lose weight by performing excessive cardio & ab exercises at the gym.

But if you lose weight, you’ll also lose muscle (in absence of weight training & optimal protein) and end up looking more skinnier than before.

And more importantly, you’ve to look at it carefully, skinny fat is a lack of muscle mass on the body and a higher body fat percentage.

So how do you fix that?

By building muscle & losing fat at the same time, aka Body Recomposition. Simple.

Well, it’s not as simple as it sounds.

But body recomposition is very much possible with untrained people and detrained people (who’ve not trained for a longer period).

Now, let’s look at the right approach.

1. Resistance training

The first step is to build muscle. Improve your muscle mass by performing all major muscle group exercises at least twice a week.

If you have three days, do full body workouts. If you have 4 days, perform upper body lower body split and if you have 5 or 6 days, push, pull, and leg is a good split for you.

Also, four steps to optimize your weight training –

Perfect your form first to avoid any injuries.
Prioritize range of motion over number of repetitions in a set (meaning, don’t rush for doing more reps, go easy – feel the contraction).
6-20 reps per set for hypertrophy however, this doesn’t mean you short rep (read the previous point if you do).
Include compound movements for improved strength such as the deadlift, bench press, barbell squats, barbell shoulder press, etc.

Once workouts are optimized, the next step is to fix the nutrition.

2. Nutrition

The topmost priority is to consume optimal protein for muscle gain. Try anything between 1.2-2g/kg of body weight to see what works best for you.

Food such as chicken, fish, egg, dairy, soy, bean & lentils, nut, nut butter, whey, plant protein etc. are good ways to increase protein intake.

Distribute the remaining calories between complex carbohydrates & healthy fats.

After the protein is sorted, the next step in nutrition is to create a calorie deficit or negative energy balance.

How do you do that?

Use any online calculator to find your maintenance calories.
Start by eating 200-300 calories less than your maintenance.
Increase your NEAT or physical activity level in general beyond your gym workouts, such as walking, bicycling, etc. Moving more throughout the day.

Now, what is happening here?

Resistance training & optimal protein will create a favorable environment to build muscle and a small calorie deficit will get rid of that excess fat.

3. Tracking

The last step to getting rid of skinny fat is tracking. Because only, if you track, you’ll know if you’re progressing in the right direction or not.

Three important things here as well.

Use a food scale to quantify your food
Record in a calorie counting app
Click your photos every week to witness changes in body composition.

Also, use this US army calculator for body composition and find your body fat percentage by entering the required information.

Once, you reach a body fat between 10-12% for males & 20-22% for females, you can start with a small calorie surplus to build lean muscle.

This sums it all!

And remembers one thing, the reason you’re skinny could be your genetics but the reason you’re skinny fat is definitely your lifestyle. So, fix that. Make slow but sustainable changes for a better lifestyle. Coming out of the skinny fat zone is just a small outcome of that.

Are you trying to lose side fat? Try this instead!

August 6, 2022

by pehlehealth with 13 Comments Lifestyle Nutrition

Now, you may have gotten tired of doing those love handles or side bend exercises at the gym however, that stubborn side fat doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Right?

Does that sound familiar? Well, fret not! In this article, you’ll learn a practical & science-based approach to losing love handles.

First things first, side fat is just like fat on any other area of your body. There’s nothing you can specifically perform, to get rid of just that layer of fat.

How your body stores fat is determined by factors such as genes, hormones & gender, and how your body loses fat is also determined by factors beyond your control.

Simply put, the process of losing fat from your body will be randomized. You can’t do much. So what you can do instead?

1. Create a negative energy balance or calorie deficit

Either by expending more calories or/and by eating fewer calories.

How to expend more calories?

a. Increase your physical activity

But get the basics first and understand how your body burns calories.

i. BMR/RMR – These are the calories that are required for internal body functions. Meaning, that even if you don’t move an inch, how many calories your body will burn is BMR. It is also called Resting metabolic rate. You can increase this by building muscle but we’ll get to that in a minute.

ii. Thermic effect of food – The energy that is spent to digest the food you eat. Protein foods usually have a higher thermic effect of food, but in the overall scheme of things to lose fat, this won’t matter much.

iii. EAT or exercise activity thermogenesis – This is the active workouts you do such as resistance training, cardio, playing sports, etc.

iv. Last is, NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis – Now, this is an area that can significantly increase your calorie spent. Any physical activity other than EAT will come here such as walking, household chores, etc. Just moving around basically. The idea is to move more and spend more calories. This will have a significant impact on your fat loss journey.

The good thing about NEAT is that a person of any age and body composition can do this easily.

The second step to create a negative energy balance is

b. Decreasing calories consumed

Consuming less than your maintenance (calories where weight remains the same) will help you stay in a calorie deficit.

How do you do that?

Find your maintenance calories using an online calculator
Started by eating 200-300 calories less than maintenance.

Let’s say your maintenance calories come out to be 2000, start eating 1700 calories.

But what to eat in these 1700 calories is also very important.

Here are a few strategies for that as well because eating less food isn’t easy for everyone. Hence, making the right food choices is absolutely important.

Consume protein in the range of 1.2-1.8 g/kg of body weight. So if your weight is 80kg, your minimum protein intake should be 96g daily. Two reasons for this – (a) protein helps preserve muscle during fat loss and (b) it is a high-satiety food, will save you from unnecessary cravings and help you eat less.
Now, distribute the remaining calories in complex carbohydrates & healthy fats. Use a food scale to quantify your food.

After a negative energy balance is created, the next step is

2. Resistance training

Remember we talked about increasing the RMR above, this is how you do that. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue that burns calories all day, even at rest. So build muscle!

Improve your muscle mass by performing all major muscle group exercises at least twice a week.

If you have three days, do full body workouts. If you have 4 days, perform upper body lower body split and if you have 5 or 6 days, push, pull, and leg is a good split for you.

Secondly, other than the strength gains & plethora of other physiological benefits, when you lose fat from the body, your results will look far more aesthetically pleasing.

So to summarize, negative energy balance & optimal protein will help lose fat, and resistance training will help preserve and build muscle and bring aesthetically pleasing results.

Keep tracking your progress, and remember, consistency & long-term changes in one’s lifestyle are the keys to losing fat and sustaining it.

Research conducted by Anmol Abraham

Types Of Oats – Rolled Vs Steel Cut Vs Instant Oats

April 12, 2022

by pehlehealth with 13 Comments Nutrition

Types of Oats: Which Is Best For You

Oats are whole grain and a nutritious food option. A lot of people these days are switching to Oats because of their potential health benefits.

In this article, we will have a detailed look at the nutrient profile of Oats, the health benefits it provides, the difference between the types of oats available in the market, if one’s better than the other, and lastly which one should you choose according to your lifestyle & taste preferences.

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Nutrition of 100g Oats

389 calories
16.89 g protein
66.27 g carbohydrates
- 10.6 g dietary fiber
6.9 g fat
- 1.22 g saturated fat
- 2.53 g polyunsaturated fat
- 2.18 g monounsaturated fat
4.72 mg iron
177 mg magnesium
4.9 mg manganese
523 mg phosphorous
4 mg zinc
0.763 mg Thiamine (B1)
1.349 mg Pantothenic Acid (B5)

Besides, it is a smaller source of a lot of other nutrients.

Health Benefits of Oats

As we saw above, oat grain is a good source of protein, fiber, several vitamins & minerals, and antioxidants.

May improve heart health

Beta Glucan, a type of fiber that is found in Oats has been particularly proven to be effective at reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad & total cholesterol, and therefore, may play a role in keeping your heart healthy (3).

Beta-Glucans can also be found in barley and other cereals grains as well.

May help with weight loss

Oats, being a complex carbohydrate, can keep one satiated for a longer duration thereby reducing the instances of more frequent eating and caloric intake.

A diet rich in oats and other complex carbohydrates promotes a feeling of fullness and can help stay in a caloric deficit easily.

Type of oats

1. Whole Oat Groat

After harvesting, cleaning, and removal of inedible hulls from the Oat crop, the first type that comes is a whole oat groat. They undergo the least amount of processing.

It is similar in appearance to a wheat grain & rice grain.

These types of oats require the maximum amount to cook. You can rarely find it in the supermarket as people don’t usually purchase a whole oat groat.

2. Steel Cut Oats

This type undergoes one step of further processing by cutting the whole oat groat into 2-3 pieces with fine metal blades.

This looks quite similar to wheat Dalia and is often sold in the market as Oat Dalia or steel-cut oats.

The cooking time is quite lesser than the whole oat groat but it will still take about 20 minutes to cook.

You can cook it just the way you cook wheat dalia and can be prepared in both sweet & salty versions.

3. Rolled Oats

The next and a popular oat option are rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats.

In order to make rolled oats, whole oat groat, instead of being cut into pieces using metal blades, is steamed & rollers are used to turn them into flat structures, known as flakes.

The resulting grain is a rolled oat.

These take less time to cook than both types discussed above because they already underwent some form of processing.

They hardly take 10 minutes to cook. They also have a soft texture.

4. Quick or Instant Oats

They are the fastest and virtually take no time to cook.

For this, rolled oats are steamed & pressed/rolled for a longer duration to get an even thinner type of oat variety, called instant oats.

Which Type Of Oats Is Best For You

Which type of Oats is best for you is depend upon your specific fitness goal. You can decide it by observing all types of oats pros and cons. So, now after reading this full article you can easily decide which oats is best for you.

if you have any doubt then ask in the comment section 👇 please.

How Much Protein Is Enough For You?

April 6, 2022

by Kaushal Kataria with 10 Comments Nutrition Uncategorized

Protein is one of the three macronutrients other than carbohydrates & fats that are required by the body in sufficient quantities.

From athletes and bodybuilders to dieters and health-conscious, high protein diets and their promises of muscle gain and improved health has interested a wide number of people.

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Proteins are composed of long chains of amino acids that form major structural components of muscles, brain, blood, skin, hair, enzymes, antibodies, transport iron, vitamins, minerals and serve various other functions.

As it performs a variety of roles, everyone needs it in the required quantities to avoid any deficiency.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

Unlike carbohydrates and fat, the body doesn’t store excess protein, so we have to take it daily from food, whatever extra is consumed throughout the day, is used for energy or gets stored as fat.

A 2017 survey (1) shows that 73% of Indians are deficient in protein while above 90% are unaware of the daily requirement of protein.

For the general population, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) states that you need 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight.

So, a 70 kg person would need 70×0.8 = 56 grams of protein a day.

This is the minimum requirement to prevent deficiency and nitrogen balance as protein serves various functions to keep your immune system strong, transport and store nutrients, and can act as an energy source if needed.

Not meeting your daily protein requirements can increase the severity of infections, bone fractures, and stunted growth in children over time. This requirement increases for people engaged in any form of physical activity. They require more protein than those who live a sedentary lifestyle.

Any form of physical activity including resistance training and cardiovascular exercises induces muscular damage.

Protein is thus required to repair, preserve and rebuild those muscles.

Studies have shown that there is a higher need for athletes, regardless of their sport. The joint American College of Sports Medicine and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position statement calls for 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg for strength athletes and 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg for endurance athletes.

A lack of protein can make you lose muscle mass, which in turn cuts your strength, makes it harder to keep your balance, and slows your metabolism.

Check Your Protein Intake According To Your Physical Activity Level

Sr. No.	LIFESTYLE	Protein intake
1.	Sedentary (sitting job/work, almost no physical activity)	0.8g/kg of body weight
2.	Little active(most household work, walking a dog, aerobic exercises 2x a week)	1.2g/kg of body weight
3.	Moderately active(aerobic exercises 4-5x a week + anaerobic exercises 2-3x a week)	1.4g/kg of body weight
4.	Highly active(aerobic + anaerobic exercises 5-7 times a week)	1.7g/kg of bodyweight

For example – a person who weighs 60 kgs falling in the category of moderately active lifestyle would need (60 x 1.4) 84g of protein every day.

Some Best Sources Of Protein

Some easy food sources of protein to get started and meet your protein requirements –

Milk and milk products
Lentils
Soy products
Peanuts
Almonds
Quinoa
Eggs
Meat
Protein supplements, etc.

Is Consuming Extra Protein Is Good?

Research also indicates that eating more protein than needed is unlikely to show any further muscle gains because the body has little capacity to store protein.

Excess protein in diet just gets excreted or converted to glucose or Fat depending upon the body’s current needs as stated above.

Excessive protein consumption ((more than 2g/kg), whether from food sources or supplements, may cause dehydration, as well as negatively impact the kidneys and bones(2).

So, there is a high need for protein consumption to be at optimum levels.

How To Choose A Healthy Ketchup?

April 3, 2022

by Manish kapoor with 5 Comments Lifestyle Nutrition Uncategorized

Ketchup as a ‘condiment’ is extremely popular in India and is frequently used to complement a lot of foods such as pizza, burgers, sandwiches, cheelas, bread pakoras, etc. Today it is even used for cooking various dishes as well in homes, restaurants & hotels alike.

A food item, so popular across the length & breadth of the country must be evaluated for its ingredients & nutritional information. In this article, we will give you a simple process to find the right ketchup for you & your family.

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How a Ketchup is made?

To make tomato ketchup, just 5 or 6 ingredients are needed, namely –

Tomatoes
Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Spices &
Condiments, etc.

But if look at the ingredients list of any popular ketchup in India.

Other than the ingredients listed above, you will also see acidity regulator E260, thickener E 1422 & E415, and preservative E211.

This is common for the majority of the ketchups and there is a specific reason these food additives are used.

Are these food additives safe?

Xanthan Gum

E415 or Xanthan Gum is a thickening agent and it is used in ketchup to achieve the desired thickness or viscosity of the product.

However, the use of a good number of quality & ripe tomatoes will help thicken the product through its pectin content, which is naturally found in tomatoes or another alternative could be fruit pectin.

Though it’s absolutely safe and used in quantities given by FSSAI, however, consumption of a large amount of xanthan gum is linked (1) to digestive issues such as increased stool, gas, etc.

And it is commonly found in foods like salad dressings, soups, sauces, syrups, etc.

So, unless you’re consuming a lot of this stuff, this is unlikely to cause a problem.

However, a product can be made without this food additive.

Acetylated distarch adipate

E1422 or Acetylated distarch adipate is another thickener or stabilizer which is used in combination with xanthan gum in most ketchup products available on the market.

Generally found to be safe, manufacturers can do without this food additive by using good quality tomatoes.

Heinz, the world’s leading ketchup brand, doesn’t use any of the thickeners in making their product.

Sodium Benzoate

E211 or sodium benzoate is a preservative that is used to make the product shelf-stable.

It is also known that when sodium benzoate is combined with ascorbic acid or vitamin c in sodas & beverages, it converts to benzene which is a known carcinogen (2).

It is also used in a range of products such as pickles, jelly, salad dressing, soy sauce, beverages, etc.

And, its use is also linked to an increased risk of inflammation, oxidative stress in the body and is also linked to hyperactivity in children (3).

So, it’s better you keep a check on the ingredient labels of food products you are consuming throughout the day that contains sodium benzoate and limit their consumption.

Heinz, again, an example of how to make ketchup without a preservative and still stay shelf-stable for a good amount of time.

Analyzing ingredients of some popular Indian ketchups

Kissan chilli tomato sauce has sugar as its second ingredient, which means the second-highest used product in this ketchup by weight is sugar, and tomato paste is just 22%.

And all the additives discussed above are part of the ingredient list.

Veeba Truly tomato despite having not used any preservative & thickener has a lot of sugar, 39% to be precise.

Maggi rich tomato ketchup also has sugar as its second ingredient at 31%.

Heinz is way better than these with 22% sugar and no use of any food additive but tomatoes are just 26%.

Bottom line

Though minimal use of ketchup shouldn’t be a cause of concern for people, but, the way it’s consumed in Indian homes coupled with not the right proportions of ingredients used by manufacturers is particularly concerning.

However, you as aware consumers must keep in mind that a good percentage of tomatoes, ideally more than 50-60%, is what you should aim for while purchasing ketchup.

This will minimize the use of other ingredients and will give you access to a better product.

Top 5 Nutrition Myths On Social Media That Must End

March 30, 2022

by Kaushal Kataria with 16 Comments Nutrition Uncategorized

Nowdays, Because of social media a lot of myths about nutrition is spreading. That are totally wrong. So, through this article I will tell you 5 biggest Nutrition myths.

Note: We Will give you full guidance and guaranteed that you can Achieve your fitness goals Easily with Us.

Myth 1: – Eating 6 meals a day is necessary to lose weight

This concept has been propagated a lot these days by various health professionals & the general public that eating smaller but frequent meals increase metabolic rate and will help you lose weight.

However, this is not true. To put it in simple terms, when you eat food, your body uses energy for digestion & absorption of food which is also called the thermic effect of food. And this energy raises your metabolic rate to some extent.

But it will be the same if you eat 6 meals of 300 calories each or 3 meals of 600 calories each or 2 meals of 900 calories each. The energy used or expended will be the same in all three cases.

It really doesn’t matter how many times you’re eating in a day as long as your caloric consumption is in line with your goal.

Let’s say your daily maintenance calories are 2500 kcal, if you want to lose weight, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than that (eg:- 2000 kcal).

What you have to make sure is to take 2000 kcal through your diet whether it comes from just 2 meals or 6 meals collectively. The body doesn’t care you eat 6 times a day or 2 times a day, it just needs the required calories to function.

Also, studies have shown that rather than eating multiple times, fewer meals a day contributes to great health and body functions.

So, in a nutshell, go for the number of meals you are comfortable having as per your lifestyle and consume calories according to your goals i.e., fat loss or muscle gain to get the desired results.

Click the button given below to count your daily maintenance calories

Daily Calories

Myth 2: – You Can’t Build Muscle on A Vegetarian Diet

There is a general perception among the public that one can’t build muscle on a vegetarian diet.

Let’s understand both the aspects of this myth very clearly – building muscle & vegetarian foods.

In order to build muscle, you need to do resistance training first of all.

And in addition to resistance training, you need to consume sufficient protein because protein is the only macronutrient that performs the repair of muscles cells & stimulates muscle growth if consumed in optimal quantities.

For that reason, protein is also called the building block of muscles.

To put this in context, anything upwards of 1.2g per kilogram to 1.7g per kilogram of body weight is optimal for growth.

Now, where does this protein come from in your diet? A number of foods are rich sources of protein – both vegetarian & non-vegetarian such as chicken, fish, egg, dairy products such as milk, curd, paneer, soy products such as chunks, granules, tofu, whole grains, lentils, beans, etc.

So, you don’t need only meat to get Lean or to build muscle.

As mentioned earlier, your body doesn’t care where the calories are coming from, it considers how many calories are coming. Likewise, your body doesn’t care where the protein is coming from, it just considers the protein.

There are plenty of protein sources for vegetarians cited above.

And if one is taking enough protein to match his daily protein requirements you shouldn’t worry about anything.

The only factor you have to consider is that most vegetarian protein sources are incomplete proteins, which means they lack one amino acid or the other. Just make sure to eat a variety of protein sources throughout the day to make that a complete protein.

For example – rice is low in lysine but high in methionine, legumes are high in lysine but low in methionine, so by combining the two (like rajma & rice) it makes an excellent source of complete protein.

And particularly, for vegetarians, dairy & soy are sources of complete protein. Even, touted as the best muscle-building supplement – whey protein is made from Dairy only.

So, enjoy the muscle-building benefits by including as many of these products in your diet.

Myth 3: – Fats make You Fat

A very common misconception in the general public is that eating “Fats will make you Fat”. No, it’ll not.

Eating excess Fats will make you fat, eating excess carbs will make you fat, eating excess protein will make you fat, basically, eating anything in excess of your caloric requirement will make you fat whether it’s a chai, almonds, or roti.

Just to give you some perspective, fat has 9 calories per gram and it is the most energy-dense macronutrient in comparison to the other two macronutrients – Carbohydrates & Protein, both of which give 4 calories per gram.

So, the same amount of fat will give you more than twice the energy of protein & carbohydrates. Hence, it is always blamed for your extra kilos most of the time.

But it is not individual foods or macronutrients in isolation, that make you fat.

If you’re eating anything that contributes to being in a state of caloric surplus, meaning, eating more than your maintenance calories or what your body needs, you’re ultimately going to gain weight no matter where the calories come from.

For example – your daily maintenance calories are 2000 kcal and you are eating 2400 kcal, and the extra 400 calories are coming from carbs and protein, you will still gain weight.

But you have a choice, whether you want your body to use these extra calories as fuel to build muscle or to convert them as fat.

That’s a topic for a different discussion but for now, the bottom line is, Fats don’t make you fat, extra calories do.

A detailed read about this article can be found here.

Myth 4: – Supplements Will Get You the Results

Supplement word means “something that is added to something else” meaning it has no role to perform on its own.

So, to simplify, supplements are added to the diet if the diet lacks something, else there is no need for a supplement as long as you’re able to fulfill its requirement on its own.

So, if your diet lacks calcium, it makes sense to use a calcium supplement, likewise for other nutrients such as protein.

Purely from a fitness perspective, supplements can boost performance if you’re disciplined with your workouts and nutrition plan.

But they can do hardly anything on their own.

If you are thinking that supplements are going to get you ripped or reduce your fat percentage, let me tell you that supplements are used to supplement a good diet not to replace a diet.

Without training your body and eating good nutrition, supplements are going to take you nowhere.

If you’re just lying on your bed taking fat burners to lose fat or taking protein to gain muscle without working out, don’t do it, I repeat, don’t do it you’re just wasting your time and money.

Though most muscle building & fat loss supplements don’t work at all, but that’s a topic for a different article, but for now, please understand that supplements don’t work unless you do.

Myth 5: – Eating Carbs After 6 PM Makes You Gain Weight

This is a popular myth that if you eat rice or roti at dinner, it will make you gain weight.

Well, this isn’t true.

To put it simply, what & how much you eat is far more important for gaining weight than when you eat.

Let’s understand this from 2 perspectives – logical & caloric.

First the logical, I gram of carbohydrate is equivalent to 4 calories. Now, these calories won’t change after 6 PM, 7 PM, or 9 PM. It will remain 4 calories for 1 gram of carbohydrate whether its roti, rice, quinoa, apple, banana, or any other carb source.

More importantly, this logic may have been coming from people who usually eat more calories at night and some studies (1) show that people eating late at night tend to make poorer food choices such as chips, colas, ice cream, etc.

These are calorie-dense foods, that add significantly more calories without much nutritional value and may add to your overall calories leading to a caloric surplus.

But even then if you’re consuming below or similar to your maintenance calories, you will not gain weight, whatsoever.

Let’s say you don’t eat carbs after 6 pm and your daily maintenance calories are 3000 kcal but, you are eating 3500 kcal a day.

Aren’t you going to gain weight? Obviously, you’re.

The main factor to gain weight is the Energy balance, not carbs proteins, or fats as mentioned above.

No matter if you eat carbs after 6 pm or 9 pm, you’re not going to gain weight as long as you’re not in a caloric surplus. It’s that simple.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the right type of carb (complex carbs not simple carbs) will help you stay satiated for longer and remove unnecessary cravings at night if that’s your area of concern.

And, don’t worry about eating your favorite dal roti at night. Just make sure you’re not skipping meals throughout the day, are well-hydrated, and keep a check on how much you’re eating to stay on track.

Plain Oats Vs Masala Oats – Which One Should You Buy?

March 19, 2022

by pehlehealth with 6 Comments Nutrition Product Reviews Uncategorized

For the past several years, our social media walls have been flooded with posts regarding the health benefits of oats.

And it surely does have presence of certain nutrients that are linked to various health benefits such as managing blood sugar, reducing bad & total cholesterol levels, preventing constipation, increasing the growth of healthy gut bacteria, and promoting satiety etc. (1,2 & 3).

But a variety of oat products are available in market. Broadly speaking, either plain or masala oats.

Plain is 100% Oats & masala, obviously as the name suggests, is the flavored version.

From a cost perspective, 100% Oats is always cheaper. In addition you can make it as per your preference – sweet or salted.

You have to spend sometime in preparing plain oats however, masala oat packets are almost instant – just add water, boil & you’re done.

One thing to watch out for in masala oats is their sodium content, like the one shown below has 2.3g sodium per 100g.

1 pouch is 38 grams, so with each serving of masala oats, you’re consuming about 867 mg of sodium and finishing 43% of your daily recommended sodium with just one product (5).

And, India consumes more than double the amount of sodium than what is recommended by the WHO (6).

The nutritional information shared above is just for one product.

In conclusion, purchase plain oats if you want to save on cost and make your own style of oats and go for masala oats if you are looking for a quick oats option however, make sure you look for the one with least sodium to avoid excessive salt related problems.