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“Magda-diet na talaga ako bukas.”

Say goodbye to your bad food habits this 2016


 


Have you ever binged on food so much that it hurts? Do you often bloat because of a gassy stomach? Have u been waging war with sinful desserts but lose miserably (and deliciously) each time? Do you often look at yourself in the mirror and say with discontent, “Magda-diet na talaga ako bukas” for the nth time? We asked experts on how you can beat these bad and possibly deadly eating habits.

Too busy to cook healthy meals? Make batch cooking your best friend.

For those who are often tied to tight deadlines, registered nutritionist-dietitian and chef Malou Caudal recommends batch cooking healthy meals every weekend.

“Freezing is one of the best methods of preservation because it keeps the nutrients. So normally I just cook once every Sunday and freeze the dishes that I can eat throughout the week. The night before, I would transfer the frozen food to thaw in the refrigerator so it will be easy to heat the next day,” says Caudal.

Stressed and overweight? Forget diet fads, the secret is eating when you are hungry.

It’s 8 AM and you have a 3 PM deadline. And like the days before, you skipped breakfast and lunch because you can already hear your boss’ irritated voice in your head if you don’t pass that proposal on time. You ate a big hearty meal (more like devoured) at around 4 PM because man, you were stressed! After eating, your stomach is as big as a balloon because you are full and bloated. Does this sound like you?

Registered nutritionist-dietitian Mary Anne Gatbonton, who is also the assistant executive director of Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines, explains the link between stress and gaining weight.

“When you neglect hunger because you were busy, you end up eating more to make up for the missed meal. This makes a person gain weight because the body will just store the nutrients for later use (the brain says, you are not hungry anymore, reserve it). This can be conquered by eating when you are hungry, making the body use only what you have just eaten.”

Make a list of what’s inside your refrigerator

Do you stock healthy snacks but forget to eat them anyway? Are you the “out of sight, out of mind” kind of person? Gatbonton suggests that you organize your fridge.

“Putting a list on the door of the refrigerator may help people be reminded on what foods are inside. Also avoid stocking too much food, so everything will be consumed. Stored food should be properly labeled and practice “first in, first out.”

 

Caudal warns that as much as possible, vegetables and fruits should be bought everyday and eaten right away.

“Nutrients, especially Vitamin C, from fruits and vegetable decrease by 25% every 24 hours. Don’t store it far too long. So it’s better to add vegetables to your frozen meal (from batch cooking) only when you reheat them.”

 

Consider lunch dates instead of dinner dates

Are you one of those people on weight-loss diets that barely eat breakfast and lunch, but succumb to the hunger and end up eating a LOT in the evening?

"That is the worst way of trying to lose weight," says Caudal. Your heaviest meals should be breakfast and lunch, and your lightest meal should be dinner. I recommend light healthy snacks in between because we should be eating every three hours."

Gatbonton further explains, "When we are asleep, the body does not need a lot of energy. So eating too much in the evening will just store the excess nutrients in the body as fat."

 

Top 5 food resolutions

Asked what are the five food resolutions every Filipino should have this 2016, Caudal lists:

1. Eat one egg every other day because 99% of the protein in egg is absorbed by the body. Eat the egg yolk with caution because it contains 212 mg of cholesterol, and our boundary is only 300 mg each day.

2. Keep sugar, fats, and salts to a minimum. They should only enhance flavor, never the main course. This means you shouldn't binge on ice cream or lechon.

3. Indulge in fruits and vegetables to make you full because they contain almost all the nutrients that the body needs. They also contain fiber that is neither digested nor absorbed by the body but makes you feel full.

 

4. Avoid too much processed food. WHO released a bulletin that puts eating too much processed food in the same category as smoking and asbestos, and it has been linked to the development of pancreatic and colorectal cancer.

5. Lessen your consumption of red meat (beef and pork), eat chicken and fish instead. --BMS, GMA Public Affairs