Lifestyle Modification – Taking small steps everyday towards a healthier life                                                      'By Vriti Srivastav'

Starting with little changes in lifestyle everyday can surely help you shed healthy amount of calories. And to add more to it, its going to help you keep your heart healthy. Lifestyle modification is the need of the hour as the current quality of life has plummeted to a great extent due to increased sedentariness. What exactly do you need to do for that? 

Follow some simple tips ---

•  Apply the 'idea' mantra – ‘Walk when you talk’
• Zzzzzzzzz after a meal is surely an uninvited guest. Say ‘sleep sleep go away’ and get up and walk for a minimum of five minutes after meals. If you are at office, you can prefer climbing few stairs or walking over to a colleague rather than using the intercom.
• Get six-eight hours of sound sleep to feel fresh the next day.
• Need to buy groceries, or pick up your kid or just meet a friend few blocks away?? Lets not stress the wheels, plug in some music and walk it up.
• Make use of staying at a height. For eg., if you stay on the sixth floor, climb three floors and let the lift welcome a lighter you on the third floor.
• Fascinated by fast food everyday? Run your imagination and wonder what is it going to do to you in the long run - those medical bills, popping pills, needle drills and loads more. You don’t want to go through all of this and let your economy droop due to your health. Choose healthy, healthy food is always cheaper.
• Technically, nothing can be considered empty as air fills in everywhere. So remember that’s what is going to happen in your tummy if you plan to starve it for long. You don’t want the uneasiness that follows, right? Solution – Have small frequent meals at regular intervals of three hours atleast.
• When we are aware of a crisis approaching, we start saving. This is exactly how our body responds if it does not get food for long. Starving increases craving for carbs and our body will start storing the next load of macronutrients as fat, expanding your waistline further.
• ‘Early breakfast and early dinner, makes a man healthy and thinner’. Start your day with a healthy breakfast as you are actually breaking your entire nights fast. Dinners too need to be early (before 10 pm), healthy and light. Our body’s digestive system gets to work at night and we don’t want to load it with a heavy meal. Give a space of one and half hour between eating and bed time.
• Swap your food for healthier options. Munch on a nice colorful salad with hung curd instead of adding calorie rich dressings. Prefer baked, steamed or roasted over fried and home-made over ready to eat. All you have to do is let your creativity out.
• Sugar and salt makes everything nice, but anything in excess is surely not wise.

Myths and fads, you will find them everywhere. Pull yourself out of the wandering state, ask the experts and keep yourself updated.