The holiday feast is on. The country celebrated major festivities in the past two weeks which somehow swayed us to add extra pounds to our weight, talk about ‘discovering delicious’ at Qatar International Food Festival. People indulged in culinary pleasures, coming out of the houses from the long summer. It’s almost what we need after a hiatus, and the question is how do we get back on track?
We lean to the expert. Countless popular diets are being handed in a single click, and yet we are spoilt for choice to find the perfect meal plan we should be following. The dietitian, Raghad Ahmad Alkhatib from Healthy Kitchen, has the right answer. Get ready to ditch that platter that we have been holding on to.
“Everything is fried food, and the only thing that is healthy from the popular food booths present during the festivals are the side dishes which are fruits and vegetables,” Alkhatib said.
If you want to lose weight, stick to drinking a lot of water, burn those calories, and avoid sugar, these are the main things for you to get back on track, she added.
Starting on a diet is a love-hate relationship we all face. It’s something that people go on and off, and for us to strictly set our weight, we should be successful maintainers. Consistency is the key to a better health, and in this case, diet. Alkhatib suggested that we should know first what are we aiming for, what is our goal? Is it to lose weight, loose fat, or develop muscles? From there, start building the criteria we have to do in order to assure it.
There are three critical things on losing weight or fat — remove any sweet foods, eliminate sugar, consult a dietitian. Going to a dietitian is a critical part of losing weight as they examine our height, weight, age, and physical activities, deriving from all these factors is how they provide us a meal plan. Tell me how many hours you sleep in a day. Make sure it’s between seven to eight hours as this is the perfect time for our metabolism to be burning while sleeping, she said.
Can you still remember the Go, Glow, and Grow foods? Back in the elementary days we even used to dress up like bread, carrot, chicken, and even an apple for this representation. Going on a diet is getting back to basics.
Alkhatib stressed that the meal plan is a sketch on how many grams you have to take each meal and each day. “As a dietitian, we can adjust your diet according to your desire, but if you cannot consult one, what I suggest is to include protein in every single meal or snack.” Proteins are made up of chemical building blocks called amino acids, among these are white-meat poultry, lean beef, eggs, and beans.
“For breakfast and lunch, you must intake protein, carbohydrates, and fats, and in dinner, only protein and fats. Carbohydrates should be eliminated because at night the metabolism goes slow, and digesting and burning carbohydrates will be very low,” she explained.
On to a weight watcher, for a more accurate plan, this is what she recommended: “For breakfast, have two boiled eggs, half avocado, one or two toast breads; snack, you can have three dates, one banana, one apple or nuts; for lunch, you can opt for a steak, chicken, salmon, or seafood (proteins), and then it should be between 100-150 grams, and for carbohydrates, you can either have baked potato, rice, corn, sweet potato or pasta, with 100-120 grams; for snack, berries are good; and lastly, dinner, we need more protein.
She revealed that to be in a good shape, one must have good resistance. “You must exercise, go to the gym, do some cardio. You can jog for 10 minutes, and everyday spend at least an hour in the gym if you want to lose weight and one hour and 30 minutes to two hours if you are building muscles.”
When exercising, begin targeting the body that needs to be developed — arms, upper part, abdomen and lower part. “Do a set for 13 repeats, three times for each side. The ratio between food and exercise for people who want to gain weight is 50 percent by 50 percent; and for those who want to lose weight, it’s 70 percent on food, and 30 percent on exercise.”
Once you start exercising, the body starts to burn fat after 20 minutes, and for it to be maintained, one should stay at least one hour. “Getting to the gym should be an everyday routine, one hour everyday is perfect, but do not do two hours a day for three times a week. You must be consistent everyday,” she said.
What is on our plate is as much valuable as how we are treating our body. The culinary scene is a beauty with vibrant colours and mouth-watering dishes.
And with every bite and sip is a maintenance for our health. Weight management is a process and not a punishment. Remember, your body is a temple.
Take good care of it.
