Decluttering your mind, and also your home, has gained immense popularity in the recent past. But doing the right thing starts with being goal-oriented, so if your goal is to have a stronger and leaner body, and you are training hard for the same, it’s probably a good idea to Mary Kondo your diet for a little boost! Sahiba B. – MS Nutrition Science & Research Policy, USA, shares the essentials that you need to remove from your diet to achieve your fitness goals.
Stop Eating After 8 PM
As per Ayurveda, 10 PM to 2 AM is the time when our liver is busy cleansing and detoxifying itself, and the body is decluttering and removing toxins from itself so it can regenerate cells and repair cell damage. Before the cleansing in our body begins, we need our food to be digested, metabolised and absorbed. As such, you need to finish your dinner by 8 PM, which is a realistic time while the ideal time would be 6 PM. Note that eating heavy, salty meals late in the evening (post sunset) will only lead to bloating, inflammation and fat deposition.
Say Goodbye To Sugar
Sugar in all its different names and forms is nothing but empty calories with no nutritional value. Some natural alternatives may seem slightly healthy but have very little nutritional benefits. They simply add to your daily caloric intake and contribute to inflammation in the gut. In turn, this can affect nutrition absorption and leaky gut syndrome. Sports/energy drinks, protein bars have sugar in alarming quantities that can derail your fitness progress.
No Place For Processed Food
Processed, packaged, canned foods are high in sodium, sugar, artificial stabilisers, vegetable oils, etc. which do more harm than good to your health. If your goal is to have a fitter, leaner looking body then avoid them as much as possible. Anything that comes in a box/can should be negligible in your diet. Burgers, pizzas, fries, hot dogs, bhaturas, samosas, chips, cup noodle, and the like should be on your ‘once-a-year-food’ list.
Remove Poor Quality Proteins
If you think adding soya nuggets, soya chunks, chaps to your plan is helping you meet your protein needs, sorry to burst your bubble. These are not good quality proteins, in fact they come under the processed food category. They are industrially produced, ripped off all nutrition, leaving only soy isolate and synthetic ingredients behind. These not only hamper your fitness progress but also leave you bloated and may increase your risk of hormonal imbalance. So keep your diet clean and add high quality proteins like organic eggs, poultry, organic A2 milk and milk products, tofu, edamame, soybeans to your meals.
Remove Vegetable And Refined Oils
The Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio in industrially produced vegetable oils and seed oils is skewed, making them pro-inflammatory. The acceptable ratio is 3:1 but these are as high as 15 to 20:1. Replace them with organic desi ghee, pure mustard oil and olive oil and see the difference.
Limit Foods That Dehydrate
Yes, removing excess water from the body helps you tip the scales in your favour. However, doing so every day with the help of supplements is not beneficial in the long run as it can lead to electrolyte imbalance and a drop in blood pressure. Consuming caffeinated beverages and alcohol expel water from the body, leaving it parched which leads to water retention – body’s mechanism of storing water. Hence, limit consumption of dehydrating beverages and replace them with lemon water, coconut water, vegetable juices, clear soups.
In conclusion, Sahiba says, “Remove the fear of food, the guilt associated with certain foods and body shame. Heal your relationship with food and your body, and only then will that stronger, leaner body be a healthy happy one too.