Food Facts

PULPY FRUITS ARE FATTENING

It's often thought that fruits like banana, chickoo and mango are high in calories and so, should be avoided. In reality, the calorific value fora banana is higher than that of a cirtus fruit like orange only because of the difference in moisture content, but a banana is more nutrient dense than an orange.

Even if you consume three to four pulpy fruits a day, you will not gain weight. Remember that they should be eaten as mid meals and not with or immediately after a main meal.

This is because when fruits are eaten with cooked foods they tend to ferment in your stomach and do not get digested. Eat a cooked meal, half-an-hour after eating fruits and eat fruits 2 1/2 hrs after a cooked meal.

NUTS AND DRY FRUITS SHOULD NOT BE EATEN REGULARLY

A daily intake of a handful of nuts and dry fruits is a must. Even though nuts are high in calories and have a considerable fat content, they contain the so-called 'good fatty acids', which are required for optimum health.

It takes two cups of ground nuts to get a tsp of oil, but most of us would skip the nuts and feel comfortable consuming two or three tsp of cooking oil daily.

The best combination would be a mixture of almonds, walnuts, raisins, figs and apricot.

DRINKING HOT WATER HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT

Drinking hot water mixed with lime and honey, first thing in the morning helps you lose weight, right? Wrong. The only benefit this could have is to improve your bowel movements and thereby clear your system.

The temperature of the water does not affect the fat content in the body and you can get rid of your fat deposits only by burning calories during a workout.

SKIP A MEAL TO COMPENSATE FOR A MEAL EATEN OUT

When there is a long fasting period between any two meals your metabolic rate slows down and your body burns fewer calories.

So instead of skipping a meal, eat less to make up for a binge. Always eat small, frequent, low cal meals to keep your metabolic rate high and use up the extra calories consumed.

A MULTIVITAMIN A DAY KEEPS ALL VITAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCIES AWAY

False. A multivitamin should not be used as a shortcut to avoid eating fruits and raw vegetables (in salads)

If you do not suffer from any symptomatic disease and if your micronutrient does not exceed that of healthy individuals then natural foods are the best sources of vitamins and minerals.

A multivitamin does not contain the fibre and phytochemicals present in these living foods.

By Courtesy: Femina