Win the battle of the bulge
(By Lisa Sarah John, Courtesy Bangalore Times, Jun 26, 2006)
Most people are confused about what to eat for dinner. Some starve all day and overeat at
night. Others skip dinner completely, and some have only soup or salad. Many eat at 6 pm and some don’t eat at all. The big question: what’s healthy?
Today, when most of us sleep after 10 pm, eating dinner at 6 pm is a bad idea. You may be tempted to snack late at night or you may not be able to sleep
out of hunger. The ideal time to eat is at least two hours before bedtime, so 8.30 pm
is fine. In two hours, most of the carbohydrate (chappati, bread, rice or potato) in the food is digested.
It’s not good to skip dinner or any other meal completely as you will only eat larger quantities of food
later. You may wake up hungry at 2 am and raid your fridge. That will cancel all
the good work (dieting and exercise) you may have done all day.
Feeding your self good,
nutritious meals and fruits and milk throughout the day is the biggest weapon in fighting the battle of the bulge. As you
eat regularly, the cravings for sweet and fried snacks disappear in a week or two. The secret: never miss a meal. Eat even
if you’re not hungry.
Just a soup or salad for dinner or lunch is wrong. In a day,
a person requires calories or energy to function normally. However, it is not only calories that one needs, but also a balance
of nutrients that come from a variety of food. The total amount of nutrients one requires for one day can never be properly
used if eaten only at one or two meals. Every meal should contain carbohydrate or cereal like bread, chappati or rice
along with protein like dal/pulse, milk/milk products or egg or non-veg. Vegetables and fruits can be added.
The ideal dinner would be phulkas, with dal/channa/rajma and a big bowl of salad with curd dressing.
Whole-wheat toast and a thick vegetable soup with sprouts or channa or baked beans and a bowl of salad is also good.
The sprouts must be cooked to make the protein available.
* * * * * * *
