15 May, 2009

Sugar and its effects

Would you survive longer on a diet of just water OR on a diet of water and refined sugar?

The answer: You would survive longer on just water.

Sound impossible? Just ask the five sailors who were ship wrecked in 1793.

The ship was filled with sugar, thus giving the marooned five a diet of sugar and water. When they were finally picked up, nine days later, they were in a wasted condition due to starvation.

The story of the five sailors intrigued French physiologist Francois Magendie to conduct a series of experiments in which he fed dogs a diet of sugar. All of the dogs died.

Magendie proved that as a steady diet, refined sugar is worse than nothing.

How can sugar be worse than nothing? Plainly put, refined sugar is an anti-nutrient.

It starts out as sugar cane, and then goes through an extensive refining process that destroys all of the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals. What you're left with are empty, naked calories.

The problem is that your body needs the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals that were taken out in the refining process in order to metabolize sugar and use it as energy. So it takes those nutrients from your own body.

So while you are enjoying that chocolate bar, sugar is draining vital nutrients from your body. Like a sweet parasite.

And it doesn't end there…

Sugar creates false hunger (as a result of the insulin rush and then ensuing plummet in your blood sugar levels), which makes you overeat. This means a constant struggle with your weight in which you never seem to achieve your ideal size.

Sugar promotes aging (due to the advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, that occur when insulin levels are consistently elevated as a result of eating too much sugar). Sugar has even been dubbed the negative fountain of youth.

Sugar weakens your bones - making you vulnerable for osteoporosis, and weakens your teeth - making you vulnerable for cavities (both due to the calcium being pulled from your bones and teeth in order for your body to process sugar).

Sugar in excess is stored as fat (after your liver has no more room to store it, sugar is converted to fat and deposited on your belly, thighs, hips and the backs of your arms).

Sugar can impair brain functioning (as a result of depleted B-vitamin production).

If you're still not convinced of the danger of sugar here are more ailments linked to its overconsumption: varicose veins, constipation, hormonal imbalances, ADD and ADHD, increased emotional instability, depressed immune system, increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases.

The average modern person consumes 46 teaspoons of sugar every day. That comes out to roughly 175 pounds of sugar each year.

And it's no wonder, since sugar industry is big business. They sneak sugar into any product that they can.

Go through the foods in your home and you'll see that sugar has been added to everything from ketchup and spaghetti sauce to crackers, oatmeal, peanut butter and even ‘healthy' items like weight loss bars.

Where does this leave you?

You are in a unique position. Your personal judgment determines the foods that you eat and the foods that you avoid. It is my hope that you approach sugar with new eyes.

While all other foods offer you caloric energy PLUS some nutritional benefit, sugar doesn't. Sugar is simply caloric energy with a sweet habit forming taste, and a hoard of health risks.

Use your judgment wisely and limit your sugar consumption - you'll love the benefits of low sugar living.

And while you're at it contact me to start a training program that will turbo-charge your results.

(Oh and if you're ever in a ship wreck with only sugar and water at your disposal - just drink the water!)

The Many Names of Sugar

While you're checking out nutrition labels for sugar content be on the lookout for the following names that all describe refined sugar:

Sucrose
High fructose corn syrup
Fructose
Lactose
Organic sugar
Maltose
Dextrose
Glucose


Lentil Fruit Salad
This recipe is as refreshing as it is nutritious. Plump black lentils mixed with chunks of mango, strawberries, tomatoes and onions will tease your taste buds into submission. A splash of balsamic vinegar is the only flavoring that this colorful salads needs. Serve as a side dish or as a light meal.
Yield: 3 serving

Here's what you need...

1 cup black lentils, cooked
1 medium mango, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium tomato, chopped
6 medium strawberries, chopped
1 tablespoon red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the lentils in a medium bowl. Chop the fruit and onions, add to lentils.
Add balsamic vinegar to the lentils and fruit, mix until well combined.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 148 calories, 1g fat, 27g carbohydrate, 10 g fiber, and 9g protein.

14 May, 2009

See the blog

All my blog friends. Do see and follow this blog of my nephew. It is very cute. Would certainly bring a smile on your face.

http://ariv.diggis.net/

Lose weight - Burn calories

To lose 1 pound, you theoretically have to cut back on 3850 calories per week or 550 calories per day. Instead of cutting back on calories alone, you can burn some calories by exercising.

One pound of body fat weight is approximately same as one pound of butter. If you look at a one pound package of butter, you will see it contains between 3850 calories. This means that each time a person burns 3850 more calories then what the person takes in, the person will loose one pound.

About 3,850 calories adds up to about 1 pound. This applies whether they are food calories coming in, or calories (burned by exercise) going out.
If you eat 3,850 calories more than your body needs, you will put on about 1 pound. If you use up 3,850 calories more than you eat, you will lose about 1 pound in weight.

Most trainers will tell you that to lose a pound of fat you need to have a 3500 calorie deficit between your intake and calories burned.

So one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of fat is 7,700 calorie.

One pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories. This means that, in order to burn 1 pound of fat, you must have a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose 1 pound of fat per week, you need to have a 500 calorie deficit each day.
What do we mean when we say calorie deficit?
You need to burn (spend) 500 calories more than you eat (earn) each week.
To lose weight, the number of calories burned must be greater than the number of calories you eat. It is that simple. When you have a calorie deficit you will experience fat and weight loss.
We can create that calorie deficit in any number of ways. We can eat 500 calories less per day, we can burn 500 extra calories per day through exercise, or we can use a combination of the two. Any combination will lead to fat loss.

The more you weigh the more calories you burn walking per mile; the less you weigh the fewer calories you burn per mile. The amount of calories you burn per mile is equal to double your weight in pounds divided by 3.5. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, you burn 2 x 175 = 350 / 3.5 = 100 calories per mile. Since there are 3500 calories in 1 lb. of body fat, a 175-pound person needs to walk 35 miles. A 125-pound person burns about 71 calories per mile, and would need to walk 49 miles.
Anaerobic activity. If you are very heavy, moving your bodyweight over distance is much more strenuous and thus becomes increasingly more anaerobic instead of aerobic.

As a result, your muscles burn more glycogen instead of fat for fuel. Get off your feet by cycling or rowing instead of walking. A person who walks very rapidly may also burn a greater amount of glycogen. Slow down and go a little longer. Although high-intensity aerobic activity is great for cardio-conditioning, distance is the most important factor when going for body-fat loss. Most people can go farther at a slower pace.

Your calorie intake. Regardless how much you walk and how many calories you burn from fat, if you increase your calorie intake to replace all the calories you burned, you will not lose any body fat.

The 4 Step Process to Approximate How Many Calories You Should Eat for Fat Loss
So, how many calories should you eat to lose 1 or 2 pounds of fat per week?
The method below will allow us to determine our target calorie intake per day for weight loss. The calculations below will help you to (approximately) determine how many calories you need to lose weight safely (1 to 2 pounds per week).
The method is a 4-step method:
Determine your weight and % body fat: A large part of you metabolism (the process by which you food is turned into energy) is determined by how much muscle you have (you lean body mass). The more lean body mass you have, the faster your metabolism.
Example: You weight 200 pounds and have 25% Body Fat

The next step involves calculating your lean body mass, or the total weight you are carrying NOT from fat.
Example: Let's say you weight 200 pounds, and you have 25% body fat. You would calculate you lean body mass with the following formula:
Body Weight x (100% - Percent Body Fat) = Lean Body Mass
200 x (100% - 25%) = 150 pounds

Note: If you do not know your lean body mass, do not worry. Use “0%” in the above calculation. The result below will still give you a good starting point for determining how many calories you should eat per day to lose weight from fat. If you do not lose weight at an acceptable rate, simply adjust your calories down by 200 per day, until you are losing 1 to 2 pounds per week. Also, the higher your body fat percentage, the less accurate the calculations to determine how many calories you need each day to burn fat will be.

Now, you should determine the baseline (approximate) number calories burned per day by multiplying by lean body mass by:
11 if you do little or no exercise at all
13 if you do light exercise (1 to 2 hours per week) (most of us)
15 if you do moderate exercise (3 to 5 hours per week)
17 if you do heavy exercise (6 or more hours per week)

Example: Let's say you do light exercise each week (1 to 2 hours per week), in your efforts to burn fat. Therefore you would use the following calculation to determine the appropriate number of calories you burn per day:
150 x 13 = 1950 calories burned per day
Note: Multiplying your lean body mass by 11 is an approximation of your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Lifestyle Factors.

Now we can calculate approximately how many calories you need to lose 1 or 2 pounds per week. As we said before, to lose 1 pound per week, you should have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories per week. Therefore, subtract 500 calories per day for each pound you want to lose per week.

Example: If you would like to know how many calories you need to burn one pound of fat in our example, you simply subtract the 500 calories from your baseline of 1950 calories.
1950 - 500 = 1450 calories per day to lose 1 pound of fat per week

Example: To burn two pounds of fat, you need to subtract 1000 calories from your baseline to determine how many calories you need.
1950 - 1000 = 950 calories per day to lose 2 pounds of fat per week
You will notice that there is a trade off between the amount of exercise you perform each week and the number of calories you can eat to burn fat. If you were undertaking 3 to 5 hours of exercise per week (moderate exercise), then you can eat up to 1750 calories per week to lose a pound of fat per week.

Important: You should strive to lose no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week. Consult a physician before beginning any weight loss program.

However, you should not consume less than 1200 calories per day if you are dieting for extended periods. Diets which are less than 1200 calories per day are not nutritionally adequate and over a period of time, you may not be getting enough of certain nutrients.

Every one uses calories at all time. There may be some exceptions to this rule, for most of us; the rate of use, even when we are resting, we use 65 calories per hour minimum. This comes to1560 calories per day. The actual range is between 65 and 100 calories per hour. This is consistent with heart rate of 60 to 80 bits per minute.

When one tries to loose weight, one should loose excess fat; there should be a healthy loss of weight. Loosing muscles tissue is unhealthy.

Any time there is depletion of fat beyond certain level, the body reacts by slowing down metabolism, so that it can build up fat. If the body is use to say 2000 calories per day and detects only 1500 calories per day for considerable length of time it reacts to the situation by reducing the rate of metabolism. When this happens one need to help body by increasing activity. Usually takes about four weeks for body to react.

This is a rear occurrence, when here is no weight loss at 1500 calories in take level, do not panic. The body has slowed down the metabolism to such a great extent that you must help it. The only way to help is to increase activities, this means you have to exercise. You do not need to join Gym but you can go on an an half an hour walk every day or batter still engage in a power walk for same duration. Power walk burns 250 calories per hour and walk burns 100 calories per hour approximately.

Females require little more body fat then men. In the absence of certain required level of body fat, females are not able to function properly; in particular they may not be able to conceive.

Water is a universal solvent, means it dissolves almost every thing at least in very minute quantities. This helps purification of body.

Eat

What should be your proportionate in take of fat, Proteins and Complex Carbohydrates?

This depends on what your needs are.

1. Need to reduce fat.

Fat: 10 percent of 1500 calorie per day = 150 calories.
Complex Carbohydrates: 30 percent of 1500 calories per day = 450 calories.
Proteins: 60 percent of 1500 calories per day = 900 calories.

2. Need more energy.

Fat: 10 percent of 1500 calorie per day = 150 calories.
Complex Carbohydrates: 40 percent of 1500 calories per day = 450 calories.
Proteins: 50 percent of 1500 calories per day = 750 calories.

3. Need to reduce weight only.

Fat: 25 percent of 1500 calorie per day = 375 calories.
Complex Carbohydrates: 25 percent of 1500 calories per day = 375 calories.
Proteins: 50 percent of 1500 calories per day = 750 calories.

4. Need to increase muscles bulk, but still reduce weight.

Fat: 10 percent of 1500 calorie per day = 150 calories.
Complex Carbohydrates: 15 percent of 1500 calories per day = 225 calories.
Proteins: 75 percent of 1500 calories per day = 1125 calories.
Exercise the muscles you want to develop, you can find right exercise on line, recommend use of light weights.

Foot note: To take fat is so important, while reducing even fat, that it is included in all cases. If the fat is completely cut out, body will think of producing the fat, and will produce the fat by reducing metabolism, without fat in take, you may actually again weight even at lower than 1500 calorie level. You will feel run down and lethargic.

How one must, drink and eat?

Drink

Every one may not be able to follow this regime.

A 16 oz glass of water fist thing in the morning will be very healthy start.
If you need to stabilize your stomach before eating, you can have a glass of water just before each and every meal. This is the easiest way to meet your quota of gallon of liquids.

Eat

To day almost half the world is starving.

In western culture. Standard healthy practice for long time was three warm square meals per day. No eating in between, but children were allowed night cap.

All that has changed, present thinking is 5 to 6 times per day. Any way what practice one follows is up to them; to each his own.

Another best practice will be a glass of water before bed time, nothing to eat for two hours before bed time.

Salsa



12 May, 2009

My show with John Abraham



So the details of my show. It was launch of Diet Pepsi Slim Can.



What did I have to do in this?



John Abraham is the brand Ambassador for diet Pepsi.



























































So It was a mass workout. Me and my troupe choreographed a basic aerobic routine for the masses which people did along with us. Wearing heart rate monitors we calculated the number of calories that we burnt and multiplied it by the number of people working out with us. It gave a very approximate idea of total calories burnt by the group. The amount that came was donated in Rs to a non profitable charitable society. And the amount was Rs. 2,65,000/-
It felt good to be part of this charitable cause.

Diet Pepsi, announced the launch of its ultra cool and sleek Diet Pepsi Slim Can at an attractive price of Rs. 15/- only, a pricing never seen before for Diet Pepsi.

Bringing alive Diet Pepsi’s distinct proposition of ‘Go Play’, the Slim Can was unveiled in a first ever consumer launch set up through a mass work-out session with brand ambassador and Bollywood fitness icon John Abraham. At Ansal Plaza, as the music reverberated, my aerobic troupe steered the audience, consumers sweated it out, John motivated them, the calorie meters kept ticking away making every calorie truly count, building the crescendo, to the final unveiling of the Diet Pepsi Slim Can amongst its consumers with fanfare.

The ‘Go Play John + You’ mass work-out session in Delhi garnered huge consumer turn-out all geared up to sweat it out with John. A total of 2,65,000 calories were burnt resulting in an equivalent amount being given to ‘Conserve’ (a non-profit organisation) as Diet Pepsi’s contribution towards creating awareness amongst the youth to protect & improve their environment.

Diet Pepsi, through its partnership with CONSERVE, aims to educate the youth about the importance of environment conservation. This awareness programme will see a unique drive wherein special garbage bins for recycling will be placed at youth congregation points in Delhi and Mumbai. Volunteers from Diet Pepsi and CONSERVE team will inform and create awareness about this cause amongst youngsters about environment, hazards caused by plastic to the habitat and ways to improve surroundings through recycling etc. Different bins will be placed for different disposable materials such as plastic, glass, metals, etc.


According to John Abraham, brand ambassador for Diet Pepsi, “I am extremely excited to be associated with the launch of Diet Pepsi Slim Can, that too, through such an innovative mass work-out session. This event combines my passion for fitness coupled with environment which is increasingly becoming a concern for all.”

According to Mr Shalabh Ahuja, CEO, Conserve, “We at ‘Conserve’ are proud to be associated with Diet Pepsi to promote the cause of recycling through this unique mass work-out session. It is great to see brands like Diet Pepsi that are taking cognizance of issues like recycling and leveraging their relationship with the consumers and lending commitment. We would like to thank the Diet Pepsi team and John Abraham for playing a crucial role in this.”

The pics above are clicked by a friend Nadir Shahid with my latest SLR.

10 May, 2009

My Show with John Abraham

I am just posting the videos and few pictures of the show I did with John Abraham. Would update later as to what this show was about.