Tips towards an ideal weight
DEARreaders and friends, how are you now, especially those who made a long list of New Year's resolution, particularly in regards to exercising, dieting in order to achieve an ideal weight for optimum health? Sincerely, your columnist hopes you are happy if indeed you are slowly but surely achieving your goal. On the other extreme, we offer our prayers that hopefully in the coming New Years, the Holy Spirit will bless you with a steely discipline to be able to realize your dreams and fulfill your promises.
Meanwhile, for the backsliders- including this columnist- here are some tips culled from well meaning friends and colleagues on how some and more folks- why not- may just find them useful in decreasing their weights or avordupuois.
All experts- doctors, nutritionists, dietitians, will tell that a hearty filling breakfast is the first step towards achieving your goal. The word "breakfast" was not coined for nothing. After long hours of sleep, it is but logical and normal to "break the fast" and load yourself with something to provide you the energy for the rest of the day. Being busy is no excuse for missing the most important meal of the day. Never mind if you are not a believer of the jaded saying, ‘ for breakfast, eats like a king, for lunch eat like a prince and for dinner, eat like a pauper." Just do it! Otherwise, you end up really hungry at midmorning and guess what? Most likely the food - if you call it food- that you will put in your mouth are the stuff dripping with lots of fats and carbohydrates with nary a content of desirable nutrients like proteins and vitamins.
Why don’t you drink a glass of water before meals. For this suggestion, we got various reactions like water makes them fat. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Water, like vitamins and minerals do not contain calories, thus how could it be fattening? Besides, our teacher in chemistry have always told us that fat is anhydrousmeaning as Sharon sang, tubig at langis, kailan man, hindi magka wangis". The glass of water drunk before meals would somehow temporarily distend the stomach, giving the eater a sense of fullness, so that he/she will not go eat on abandon to the verge of gluttony. So, unless there are absolute contraindications- like terminal kidney failure, congestive heart failure- drink that glass of water before you sit down for meals, water cleanses, refreshes and gives the skin a dewy glow.
Remove all condiments from the dining table-