The Importance of Good Night Sleep

How was your sleep last night? I have heard that sleep number bed gives more comfort than the usual bed we use at home thus, producing a good night sleep. Good night sleep is as important as good nutrition and exercise to attain wellness. Sleep helps our body establish regular bio-rhythms that could lessen cancer risk and normalizes hormone metabolism.
Did you know that by the time we are on our deep sleep all the things we learned during the day that was stored on our short term memory bank (hippocampus) is transferred to its permanent storage site (neocortex)? Thus, making sleep so important to our learning process. Lack of sleep will not just result to poor memory retention but poor accuracy and precision in work and some health problems as well. So, why settle for less effective bed if we have a choice to avail a bed that could give us a maximum comfort?

Do not loose vital nutrients from your Diet

You may be leaving out vital nutrients as you peel your food. Experts share tips to give your food a plant-based makeover...

Granted, you’re living in a concrete jungle where you have no control over pesticides in your baingan and adulteration of your milk. You are also too busy to bother about what you feed yourself, often rushing to grab a burger, gorging on a pizza and washing these down with a cola. The reasons given for treating our body to junk are many. Health foods? Too expensive. Counting nutrients? Impractical. Organic and natural food? Not always possible.
But a wrong diet is the root cause of all illnesses. The way out? Make small changes in your eating patterns. Don’t make a 360-degree change, go one step at a time. Try to be as natural as possible, gradually include more raw foods and get rid of unhealthy eating patterns. Here are easyto-adopt plant-based diet practicesthat can help ward off (and in most cases, re verse) ailments like obesity, diabetes, gastric problems, etc.
SAY ‘NO’ TO ANIMAL PROTEIN
Don’t pack in protein from animal sources – cheese, milk, meat, butter, eggs etc. Unlike plant-based protein sources, these take more time to digest, making you feel heavy and bloated. To make matters worse, unknowingly there is a tendency to have acidic food to help digest the protein (eg, consuming alcohol with meat). And as is commonly known, one of the bottomlines of a good diet is to avoid acidic food (animal products, sugar, dairy, sugar and colas) and have more alkaline stuff (fruits, vegetables). Too much acid also leads to long-term thinning of the bones and lower muscle mass. Moreover, meat contains huge amount of animal fat that’s a direct cause of obesity, heart diseases, cholesterol, etc. Moral of the story? If you want to avoid the afore-mentioned diseases, give your body a protein dose with normal greens and fruits.
DAIRY CAN BE AVOIDED
Have soya milk or almond milk if you can’t do without your daily glass of milk. Dairy products, especially the ones available after processing these days, do yourbody no good.
OILY FACT
Watch your oil consumption. The best way to consume oil is through nuts and seeds rather than the refined form where all fibre is lost. Think you cannot make your sabji without a generous dollop of ghee? Here’s how you can do it – Add a little salt to soften the onions and fry them in a pan without oil or fat. If you feel it sticks, just sprinkle a little water. Onions will get fried just as well.
CHANGE YOUR COOKING STYLE
Healthy, oil-free cooking might take a little longer than usual, but it’s worth the wait. Begin using vegetable broth to cook your sabjis and curries. Can’t do without tasty (oily) temptations like patties, fries or cutlets? Simply coat your patties in fine peanut powder and roast them. It might take a while, but the oil released from the peanuts is enough to cook them. Try it to believe it.
HAVE WHOLE FOODS
Eat only whole foods because most of the nutrients and flavour is in the skin and when you peel them, you throw away the nutrients. Ever wondered why you add sauces and masalas to spice up vegetables? It’s because while peeling the skin, you are ridding it of its flavours too. If you learn to cook with whole foods, you won’t feel the need to artificially flavour them with sauces. Similarly, have unpolished rice and brown rice instead of the white one,s and atta instead of maida.
USE WATER SPARINGLY
Washing vegetables, grains and fruits is well, necessary, but don’t overdo it, else you’ll lose all nutrients. Steam your veggies instead of boiling them. You’ll require less water and retain nutrients too. Also, never wash vegetables after chopping them.
HAVE FRUITS SEPARATELY
Do not combine fruits with a meal. Our bodies digest fruits very quickly as compared to other foods, as fruits are very sugary and therefore ‘ferment’ in your stomach. This is fine normally, but if you eat fruits post a heavy meal, then the fermenting fruit remains in your stomach a lot longer and can cause bloating, gas and discomfort. Also, have fruits instead of juices. The calories are higher in juices and with fruits, you’ll get your fibre too.
Co-ordinated by LEKHA MENON

FOLLOW THE MONKEY
Nature is the best teacher and among all animals, man’s closest relative monkey leads the way. Ever seen a monkey peel an apple? Not really. But it certainly does so for a banana or an orange. Follow the principle in your diet too! Never peel fruits and vegetables that don’t need peeling.

BODY TIPS

1.INSTEAD OF EATING THREE BIG MEALS TRY 2 SPLIT UR MEALS INTO 5 SMALL MEALS.

2.UR BREAKFAST SHOULD B LIKE A KING AS IN MORNING METABOLISM IS VRY HIGH AS IT DECREASES BY D NIGHT.UR BREAKFAST SHOULD B FULL OF CARBOHYDRATES LIKE BREAD,POTATO,CORNFLAKES.....
FOR PROTEIN U CAN TKE EGG WHITES,PANEER, U CAN TKE PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS ALSO LIKE PROTINEX (NO SIDE EFFECT EASY 2 ABSORB),WHEY PROTEIN(WEIDER COMPANY)

3.TRY 2 B REGULAR IN UR WORKOUTS.

4.AVOID TOO MUCH JUNK FOODS.

5.AFTER DOING EXERCISE TRY 2 TAKE A PROTEIN SHAKE BLEND WITH 50GM GLICOSE WITH IN HALF AN HOUR.

5.DON'T TRY 2 DO SO MANY SETS PER BODY PART AS THIS WILL LEAD 2 OVERTRAINING ND OVERTRAINING MEANS NO GAIN OF MUSCLES.
SO TRY 2 DO 6 SET PER BODY PART(RANGING BETWEEN (6-15 REP)

6.DO 1 BODY PART A DAY.
BEST OF LUCK
MAYANK

Role of Repetitions in Muscle Building

Repetitions are the basic building blocks of any strength or muscle building program but it is something that many lifters take for granted. How often do you see people at the gym speed through their reps, breathe haphazardly or fail to complete each rep correctly from a technical perspective? There is much more to the simple rep than meets the eye.

The first thing to note is that a repetition consists of three elements - namely lower, pause and lift. The speed at which this is achieved depends on the desired outcome, but to maximize muscle growth a slow, controlled tempo is required. The process should never be rushed, jerky or bouncy but instead should be controlled and smooth.

The second consideration relates to how many reps need to be performed. Once again, this depends on what you hope to achieve but you can use the following as a basic rule of thumb:

1. A single repetition maximum (1RM) increases muscle strength.

2. A six to eight repetition maximum increases muscle size.

3. A higher number of repetitions will have more effect on muscle endurance and little impact on size or strength.

Your aim therefore should be to complete six to eight reps of a load equivalent to 75-80% of your 1RM. This will maximize your muscle building potential, provided you complete each lift with perfect form in a smooth controlled manner.

Burn Your Fat

The more muscle a person has, the greater their metabolism is, which equates to the faster they burn calories. However, resistance training to build muscle is only one part of the equation. The other parts are cardiovascular conditioning and healthy eating. A lot of men that I have encountered feel that weight training is the only thing they need to do in order to get in shape, but wonder why they can never achieve the definition that comes as a result of adding cardio conditioning and healthy eating. If you are not dedicating enough time to any one of these three elements, you will most likely not achieve the results you strive for. Having said that, this edition's column is dedicated to the importance of cardiovascular conditioning for fat burning.

Once you reach your desired weight, you only need maintain it, which usually requires you do cardio about three times per week, every other day, for 20 minutes. However, if you are training for a sport, the frequency and duration will be much different. Assuming you are not training for a sport, you will need to put more into your cardio workouts until you reach your desired weight. Since fat is not your body's first choice of fuel (carbohydrates are), you stand a better chance of tapping into your fat stores if you perform your cardio workouts first thing in the morning before eating. The duration of your workouts should be approximately 45 minutes, four or more days per week for maximum results in order to rid your body of excess fat.

That leads to the next area of importance-intensity. To maximize your results and burn the most calories you can, you need to train at a high enough intensity. This is assuming that don't have any health problems. If you do, consult with your physician before preceding any further. However, if you are healthy, begin whatever method of cardio (walking, bicycling, etc?) you choose at a moderate pace, and then progress from there. Once you have gotten your body used to the exercise, it is time to step it up a notch.

Myths About Dieting

1. If I drastically cut calories, I'll lose weight faster.
When you take your caloric intake down too low, you are actually sending your body into "starvation mode". Your body wants to maintain your weight when it "thinks" you are starving; therefore, your metabolism will actually slow down and you may not lose weight.
More: How Low Can You Go?

2. The stricter the diet, the better it will work.
The stricter a diet is -- completely eliminating entire food groups; eating just one food (e.g. cabbage soup) -- the less effective it will be in the end. You'll get tired of the allowed food and when you feel really deprived, you're likely to call it quits altogether.
More: Don't Deprive Yourself!

3. I should get rid of my favorite less-than-healthful foods.
By treating yourself to your old favorites now and again, you'll stay motivated and you'll be less likely to give in to a binge. Just make sure you get back on track after your treat. Moderation is the key to successful, long-term weight loss.
More: Banish All-or-Nothing Thinking

4. Eating late at night will cause me to gain weight.
All things considered, it doesn't really matter when you eat, only how many calories you eat and burn in a day. Whether you're eating in the morning or at midnight your body turns any extra calories into fat. In fact, eating a light snack -- like cheese and crackers -- before bed may help you sleep better.
More: Back to Basics

5. I shouldn't eat between meals.
On the contrary, eating a small, healthful snack between meals will help keep your blood sugar at an even keel and keep your metabolism going strong. You'll also avoid getting too hungry so you don't over-eat at your next meal.
More: Snacking Solutions

6. Fat is bad.
Everybody needs to include some fat in their diet. We need it; plus, it makes dishes more satisfying and palatable. Some fats are even good for you, like omega-3 fatty acids, which are found predominantly in fish and shellfish.
More: Fat & Satiety

7. Skipping meals will help me lose weight.
On the con