Tips for a Healthy diet

A lot of people are asking me about my diet plan. In this post I am going to share the rules that I follow for a healthy diet.
1. The idea is to do mindful eating. Just know what you are eating and eat only as much required. Do not just unnecessarily munch or stop-by anytime at any fried food stall. Just be aware of what you are eating and how it will impact.
Knowing makes you take the right decision most of the times and you might even ignore it lot of the other times;)

2. Drink to stay healthy. Consume healthy drinks such as chaach, naariyal Paani, ragi malt, milk, home made juices with no added sugar etc. Most importantly drink lots of water(3-4litres atleast daily).

3. Try to reduce carbs intake as much as possible and increase protein intake. So I have reduced my intake of roti, rice, sooji, sabudana, poha, potato etc. And increased consumption of protein based items. In our day to day lives we do not take as much protein as we need to. Protein will  help you increase your stamina and you will not put on weight with protein-rich food items. That's why I increased the consumption of daal, chana, rajma, sprouts, besan etc.

4. Go crazy on fruits. Fruits are nutrient rich and  you never put on weight with fruits.

5. Add some nuts like almonds, walnuts, figs, dates etc for a balanced nutrient intake.

6. I added lot of superfoods in my diet such as oats, ragi, quinoa as well. You can google to see why I referred to them as superfoods:)

7. Salads should be a regular part of your diet. But do not add unhealthy salad dressing such as mayonnaise, that would defeat the purpose:)

8. Avoid sugar, refined flour, refined oils, any fried food and any artificially treated and prepared food item as much as possible. For example have a homemade chutney instead of packaged jam and tomato sauce. Another example, have paneer as it's very nutritive but avoid Shahi paneer or paneer butter masala so instead go for paneer bhurji or simple paneer sandwich.

9. Eat and do not starve in the name of dieting as that rips your body off the required nutrients. Having said that do not over-eat too in the name of healthy eating;)

10. Last and the most important is that you Exercise. Exercise to stay away from diseases. Exercise helps you reduce stress, it keeps you fit. What more do you need as a motivation.

I understand that this looks like a long list of to-dos but it's very simple to implement. I am not saying I follow 100% of this but I try to follow most of it:)