My Key to cooking fresh food

Key to cooking fresh food along with stressful work life is advance preparation and getting up early.
Early morning Brown Rice(in electric cooker) and Dal/Lentil(pressure cooker)/Soup are kept before starting morning rituals.
Frozen cut veg or quick cutting vegetables are stir fired with very basic seasoning and put the lid with low heat. So by the time Im ready for work my half cooking is done.
Evening when I enter home all I do is make hot Roties (Phulksa)/Tortias/Indian Bread and Season the boiled dal (lentil)/Soup.
Stock Dosa batter/Indian Pancake batter
Make some chutneys/sause/dips in weekend
Stock cut salad so you save some time.
Use tomato paste & tamarind paste, ready seasoning like McCormicks spices, or make your own combination to accelerate cooking.
Youve to give up traditional cooking and stick to very basic cooking to keep up with healthy life style.
If healthy fresh cooked food is not in kitchen Junk food find its way.
Just wake up 20min early than your daily routine and try whatever I suggested.
Cooking is rapid & swift in the morning than evening. By end of the day we are really stressed and tired. We can get more mileage out of ourself only in the morning.  Planning and preparation will keep our diet on track and we can stick to healthy life style.

By: Reena Sharma
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When you just cannot lose any more weight What next

As you move through your weight-loss program, there’s a good chance that you will find yourself at a sticking point, where it just seems that no matter what you do, you just cannot lose any more weight. Typically, this happens when you’re battling with those last 5 or 10 pounds; in some cases, you may just decide to live with that extra weight. 
Don’t be so quick to give up this time. When you arm yourself with a few last strategies you can bypass this hurdle with success. If you implement two or three of the following quick changes, you should be able to drop 5 pounds in about two and a half to three weeks time, which is a safe rate that will ensure it is fat loss and not lean muscle loss.
Here are 5 quick changes to drop 5 pounds.
1- Implement extreme carb cyclingYou may already be on a diet that does make use of higher-carbohydrate days along with lower-carbohydrate days, but typical approaches tend to be quite moderate. When trying to strip off those last 5 pounds, you’re going to have to kick it up a notch and really go to the extremes.
Try making your low-carbohydrate days very low-carb, where you’re focused on strictly eating protein and fibrous vegetables. This will create a very high caloric deficit, thereby accelerating fat loss. Then, place your high-carbohydrate days on your training days and bring the calorie balance up to maintenance value -- or even slightly above -- by adding a very large amount of carbs.
Since carbohydrates are the macronutrient that most influences the metabolic rate, this drastic zigzag approach keeps the metabolism firing while you enjoy a faster rate of total fat loss.
2- Take one week off trainingIn some instances, the reason you’ve hit a wall with weight loss is because the body hasn’t received enough rest. When you’re verging on overtraining, it’s quite common for the body to actually retain water, making it harder to lean down.
Take one week off training while eating closer to a maintenance diet. This will help to reset the metabolism and water balance. Many people are very surprised at the impact taking one week off can make.
3- Shift the rep ranges of your exercisesPlateaus are quite common when you’ve been performing the same workout for a lengthy period of time and can keep you from dropping those last 5 pounds of fat. A simple way to crank up the calorie burn of your workout is to increase the reps to 10 for one single week while decreasing the rest period to only 1 minute between sets.
Note that you’re not aiming to make this a circuit training workout, but simply quickening the pace of the workout to add intensity. The nature of this protocol (10 reps with 1-minute rest periods), compared with a typical strength program of 5 reps and 3-minute rest periods, tends to produce a greater release of growth hormone in the body, which is beneficial for promoting lean muscle mass development.
We have 2 more quick changes to help you drop those 5 pounds next...

4- Increase protein intakeThe fourth way to lose those last 5 pounds is to increase the protein content of your diet. It’s important to remember that the leaner you get and the lower you take your total calorie intake, the more protein you will need. This helps to prevent lean muscle mass loss and ensures recovery.
An added benefit of bringing your protein intake higher is that it will increase the metabolic rate. Over the course of a week or two, this could mean the difference between staying at a standstill or losing another half to one pound.
Great sources of protein to include regularly are chicken, lean beef, egg whites, white fish, and low-fat cottage cheese.

5- Combine sprint training with steady-state cardioFinally, consider altering the method of cardio you’re doing so that you start with 5 to 8 interval sprints of 30 seconds in length interspersed with 90-second rest periods. Then, proceed to finish the cardio session off with another 15 minutes of moderate paced cardio.
This gives you the best of both worlds, as you’ll get the metabolic spark that interval training offers along with the benefit of moderate cardio that strictly uses fatty acids for fuel.
it’s not too late
Don’t give up too quickly. Start making a few adjustments to your training and diet program and keep monitoring how it’s influencing your progress. In time, you’ll be able to see what works so you can reach your end goal.

By Askmen Contributor(Fitness Specialist http://www.askmen.com/)
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Eight Keys for Healthy Living

  1.  Exercise: "move it to loose it".
    Walk, run, dance, playing with kid or just doing household work.
  2. Smart Food Choice: Healthy and balanced Food, portion control and lots of water.
  3.  Be Happy: Try to Keep Depression away. Listen to music, talk to close friend or loved ones, hug your kids, play with pet, take time for you hobbies. Exercise keeps depression away.
  4.  Self-Control: Dont lose your hard work & goal in emotions, whether its Celebration, happiness or depression or being part of any event or self-sympathy.
  5. Self-motivation: Keep rewarding yourself and find a way to get up and start again. Its never too late, to correct yourself and be back on track.
  6. Revise your Goals: Keep weighing yourself and rework on your action plans. As with time weight may change or it may hit a Plato so you need to step up to get more result. Never be shy or scared to check your weight, face it and prepare to conquer.
  7. Planning and Preparation: Plan your exercise and prepare for meals in advance will always keep you on track.
  8. Rest: Well 8hrs of rest is must for body to get recharged otherwise it goes in fatigue and chances of slipage is maximum. Weak and tried bodies are perfect home for diseases so make sure to follow the last rule. But not more than 8hrs as anything is excess is bad for body.
By: Reena Sharma
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Quick Healthy Recipes Part 2

Tomato Rasam
Ingredients:
Oil/ghee - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Red Whole Dry chillis - 2-3, according to taste
Curry Leaves- 6-8
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Big Ripe Tomatoes or 3 Medium Size Tomatoes
Salt - 1 tea spoon or to taste
Brown Sugar/Jagree- 1/2 Tea Spoon or to taste
5 Cup water
Cilantro/Coriander leaves
 

Directions:
Wash, Cut Tomatoes in 2 equal half, put in microwaveable bowl cover loose with lid and microwave for 4 minutes.
Once it cools down, remove the skin and mash the tomato pulp, keep aside.

In a deep pan, heat oil/ghee.
Add mustard and cumin seeds. When they stop crackling, add asafoetida, curry leaves, crushed Garlic and Dry Red Chilli.
Mix and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add tomato pulp and 5 Cups of water
Add Salt and sugar/jagree
Bring it to Boil and let it Boil for 3 min
Garnish with Cilantro/Coriander leaves and Rasam is ready to serve.
Note:Sometimes I add 1/2 spoon Ready MTR Rasam Powder or Sambar Powder for extra flavor
If you are suffering from cold or sore throat add ground Black pepper 1/2tsp in Rasam seasoning, it helps a lot.
Sprouted Mung Beans
Ingredients:
3 cups sprouted mung beans (3/4 to 1 cup dried, see below)
2 Green Chillis/jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
1 tsp Muster Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
5-6 Curry leaves
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 medium onions, chopped coarsely
2 medium tomatoes (or 3-4 plum tomatoes), chopped
2 tsp oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 cup water (add more or less, depending on your preference)
Salt - 1 tea spoon or to taste
Cilantro/Coriander leaves


 
Directions:1)In a non-stick pan or heavy base pan
2 ) Add mustard and cumin seeds. When they stop crackling. Add Curry leaves and the chopped jalapenos on medium heat.
3) Add turmeric  and the chopped onions and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat, until the onions are soft but not browned.
4) Add the tomatoes,  cumin powder, coriander powder and simmer for 4-5 minutes more, until the tomatoes are softened.
5) Add the mung beans,  and water and simmer for 10 minutes or so on medium/medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until the mung beans are done to your liking (we prefer them crunchy, but not too crunchy).
6) Garnish with cilantro and s
erve with rice/roti.

Note: I sometimes sprinkle pinch of Garam Masala once its done and cover with lid.
Preliminary for Sprouted Moung Beans: To sprout mung beans, rinse 1 cup of dried beans well, and then soak in 2-3 cups of water for 8-12 hours (the mung beans will be edible after an overnight soaking, and theyll expand to about triple their original size). Next, drain and rinse the beans, and let them stand for another 1-2 days under wet paper towels. The mung beans will quickly sprout and, more importantly, theyll have even more flavor. After 1-2 days, the beans should have sprouts of anywhere from half an inch to 1.5 inches in length.

By: Reena Sharma
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7 KEYS TO ULTRAMETABOLISM Dr Mark Hyman M D

Dr. Hymans UltraMetabolism isnt a diet, its a way of life.
If you want to lose weight and reduce factors that lead to certain diseases.

UltraMetabolism Diets seven keys to weight loss: 1. Controlling appetite and metabolism
2. Reducing stress
3. Managing inflammation
4. Preventing cellular "rust"
5. Turbo charging your metabolism
6. Ensuring optimal thyroid function
7. Detoxifying your liver.

Here read more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/17/earlyshow/leisure/books/main1503620.shtml

This is about the same book
http://www.thatsfit.com/2009/12/01/ultrametabolism-diet/
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