​ E=MC2 shifted the entire rationale of existence of this universe and the human body is no exception to Einstein’s epic discovery. Whether it is by running or strength training or sports exercise or doing nothing at all, we retain, lose or gain mass depending upon the how we use our energy. Mass sounds too Eintein-ish so let’s call it body weight. And I can see this article getting more attention now!
 
Homo sapiens are meant for movement. But our energy expenditure is not solely dependent upon how hard we train at the gym or how much salad we gobble down. We burn about 1.5 calories per minute just lying still while our body is busy performing basic functions. Apart from sleeping, exercising and eating (which are considered as the major calorie-burning activities of the day), every other activity in between expends energy too. And this energy has a name: Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT. Even trivial daily activities increase your basal metabolic rate substantially have a positive and constructive impact on your daily NEAT.
 
Good things come in small packages
Working intelligently to leverage small efforts adds to up to big rewards. There is absolutely no excuse for not exercising, but if circumstances demand you to sacrifice your work-out, atleast work-around! There are plenty of little ways you can keep your muscles moving, active and burning calories.
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• Take the no.11 bus

I couldn’t help but translating a colloquial Hindi saying for using your legs to travel! Walk the talks; walk the phone-calls; walk to the grocery store; walk your pet; walk everytime and everywhere you can. Nothing can be more dynamic than walking. Even walking up to the kitchen to pour a glass of water instead of asking your house-help to, adds to the steps.

• Flight to Fight

We can see the quintessential ‘take the stairs for better health’ A4 printouts pasted proudly on lifts everywhere. We read it and yet press the button to our floor. Fight those lazy bugs biting your legs and take the flight up to your destination. The joy of adrenalin from this flight will be worth a million fights! 

• Bear the Baggages

Shed the ones on your mind and lug the ones in hand. Ever heard of the famous ‘farmer’s hold’ exercise? Carrying your groceries or damages from your shopping spree can be an amazing NEAT regimen; and even better would be to walk with them. Who wants dumbells when you have a big shopping list and your car is parked half a kilometer away!

• Wash the weight away

The best way to prevent your favorite silks and sequins from getting annihilated in the washing machine: wash them yourself. Washing clothes not just makes your hands smell of soap but also gifts some nice muscle definitions to them!

• Kill it with kids

Kids can tire you. And they can even get you rid of your tyres! Kids goes synonymous to movement. Even playing a simple board game with children will make you move around in circles. So you can imagine if your child wants to fly frisbee with you today, you are going to return home feeling as if you just finished 20 laps in the pool!

• Let the Weight Wait

India is full of queues; and they can be oppressive to say the least. But what if waiting helps you burn calories, would you still crib about it? Don’t sit while waiting. Stand in the queue. Don’t  keep shifting your weight from one leg to another, that will seriously tire you. Stand erect with your spine straight. Talk to your fellow sufferers to kill time. I made a friend about 6 years ago standing in line to pay my electricity bill; the friendship is still going strong and I don’t hate queues anymore! You never know you too might bump into someone who turns into a friend for life. 

• Squat to Squander

If you have an Indian style restroom at home, you have already won half the battle! But if not, don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to make sure you are using your gluteus bundles to their maximum capacity. Squat to pick stuff from the floor, trash those hi-tech mops and squat to sweep and mop, wash and chop.

• With-Stand the Storm

If you do not have the sitting disease, then stand work. And if you it, get your butt up that chair and stand. Stand and chop vegetables; stand to teach your kids; stand to paint, to sing. Stand if you can at any instance and sit only if you cannot stand anymore. Standing strengthens your lower extremities and improves posture too.

• Cross to Chew

Eating can be a terrific calorie burning activity! Sitting cross-legged while eating keeps your pelvic muscles agile and flexible and has amazing benefits in improving digestion, increasing metabolism and even aiding in weight loss. 

• Sprout in Action

Gardening is therapeutic. Not just for the mind but for the body too. Gardening involves a lot of physical labour and movement. A small terrace garden too can keep your muscles and mind occupied and incase you have a farm where you can grow your own food, you just hit a jackpot! Whoever said blessings never come in pairs doesn’t know about the benefits of gardening.
 
 
Are you the unfortunate couch potato syndrome patient?
The easiest thing to ever do is to do nothing at all. And it burns nothing at all.  Loving your couch with a platter of chips and cola infront of your home theatre can get your NEAT score plummeting in no time. Loving your body can be a better deal incase you don’t want to succumb to the epidemic of obesity. It eventually boils down to the straight fact that ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it.’ Simple everyday activities like the ones mentioned and so many more, keep your muscles in action, up your metabolism, keep them sustained and add to the treasure of your NEAT score. But this doesn’t give you the leverage to completely shun exercises. With good training, good food and substantial NETA you can gift yourself a strong, healthy and beautiful body.

The best weight-loss program is a broken heart! Sadistically and deleteriously true. A broken heart, shattered by either separation or loss of a loved one can volley a havoc on your system. It is like the centre of the universe suddenly shrinking between the lungs and your heart controlling everything from tangles of your hair to the wilting nail of your little toe, and everything falling in between. The first classic symptom of a bereaved state is loss of appetite. It would have been just a week since your heart tore to pieces, but your weighing scale is already showing heart-breaking dip in figures. And that’s when we learn that the hunger and appetite centre of our body is located in our cerebral hemisphere and not the rib cage! Because, in actuality, it is your brain undergoing the trauma, not your heart.

So what makes us lose the will to eat, starve and yet stay alive? (although a bit worn out after days of involuntary fasting). My friend had a terrible break-up during our graduation days and while on her summit of an emotional breakdown, someone asked her concernedly why she is not eating well. She answered “My cortisols are high currently. Please meet me after a week at pizza hut!” Astringent. One, that human didn’t understand what cortisol is and two, that was the last day of her mourning because such a scientific explanation to a lamenting heart threw us into a fit of laughter, as we still do on hindsight.

Back to business. Though psychologically there are millions of emotions boomeranging during a trauma, physiologically there are only two things happening:

1. spike in adrenaline
2. increase in cortisol

While adrenaline gives you the option of either succumbing to the trauma or escaping the situation or fighting back the demons, Cortisol is the real dawdler! It has some calamitous effects on our systems, some of which will explain why we feel what we feel.

The Chaotic Cortisol...
...Elevates blood glucose
The sudden spike in blood sugar gives the body fuel to cope up with the trauma.
 
...Massively compromises immune response
Cortisol is the communication channel between our gut and our brain! Our immunity is synchronized with the good little bacteria inhabiting our gut {the famous intestinal  flora}. Intestinal homeostasis maintains healthy functioning only till adversity strikes. The bacterial colonization, functioning and immune response gets compromised as a result of which, the brain is sent signals through cortisol to tamper with the hunger centre switchboard. Haven't we all at some point experienced inexplicable loss of taste, inability to swallow and lack of will to eat while we languish over an aching heart? Yeah, that's the cruel cortisol in action!

...Increases blood pressure
The brain, gut, kidney and everything made up of cells need energy in the form of glucose to fight back. And they need it real quick. Our cardiovascular system works overtime to make sure the fuel reaches its destination as soon as possible and the wailing heart puts immense pressure on the blood vessels to pump across harder.

...Increases fat mass
Requirement for fuel sends the body into a crash program of saving as much as possible for the rainy day! And that means more of fat being accumulated, lest the body encounters nutrient deprivation in the long run. But since the body is not getting enough food for fuel, initially all the fat also gets directed towards energy production leading to weight loss.

...Causes loss of bone calcium
Cortisol blocks calcium absorption and triggers demineralization to free amino acids for being used as energy source. This, along with other ongoing processes, renders the body weak and lethargic.
 
...Stimulates congnitive haziness
In simpler words, makes you feel down in the dumps! Your mind is inundated with emotions and clouded with confusion, unanswered questions and lack of acceptance of what just happened to you!

Food, oxygen, immune response, everything under the sun is compromised and you are accusing your destiny for dishing all this out to you. Time to shift the blame; It’s the cortisol acting smart. Till it is around, you anyway have no control. The only control you can exercise is on how you process your emotions. To accept that it is OK to feel the way you are is the best way to deal with it. Selective numbing is not possible. When you drop the curtains on your emotional receptivity, you force shut your body too. And your first line of sustenance, food, is the victim to it.

As explained beautifully by an expert "The body can only ever be in two states: either in a state of repair or a state of repose. If heartbreak is affecting you negatively, then your body will be in a state of repair; if it's constantly in a state of repair your appetite will be affected, as your body will be working over time."
Once you are able to pacify your internals or with gradual recuperation, cortisol levels automatically dip down to normal. But then, you would have already raised an alarm in your body. Shedding a few kilograms may make you feel victorious after you have recovered from the heartache, but you don’t realize that you have lost your health and vigour too. A heart-breaking experience becomes a brain-aching one!
 
Having said all this, humans are born optimistic . The good thing about adversities is that there always are two roads ahead. Either we succumb to the onslaughts and later keep dealing with the consequences, or drop the baggages and let Mr. Cortisol take a duck! Well, literally!

When Columbus discovered the spice route, he didn’t know that one of those spices could help him rid his double chin! Indian food is incomplete without its spices and the Indian spice cabinet is a Pandora’s box of health and happiness!  You will be surprised that spices and condiments that have been occupying the foremost shelf and are used most frequently for everyday cooking, are the ones with maximum benefits. Spices and herbs not only add flavour to your food but also offer wonderful properties for reducing body fat content. Believe it. While some of those can soothe your taste buds, some can burn your bellies. Well, literally; the bellies we totally detest donning and wish for magical potions to cast their spell on and make them disappear overnight!

The Tints of Turmeric
The goodness of this 4000 year old golden spice is as difficult to revoke as it is to wash its stains off your whites! Used almost in everything we cook, turmeric, comes loaded with anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, liver detoxifying, digestive, immune- and metabolism-boosting properties. With the ease of availability, economical value and a neutral taste, it can be conveniently added to our curries, vegetables, soups and even beverages like milk and tea. Turmeric holds a special place in the Ayurveda and even traditional Chinese medicinal practices. Due to its high metabolic index, it is a terrific additive for weight loss. Curcumin, the principle chemical of turmeric giving it that bright yellow colour, is known to lower cortisol, elevate serotonin and noradrenalin levels, subsequently decrease anxiety and keep our mood calm. Now you know that when your grandmother swore by that cup of turmeric milk for a good-night’s sleep, she meant business!

Savoury Cinnamon
Talk about curbing those evening and midnight cravings and that one spice which wins hands down is our dear old cinnamon. One of the veterans from your spice rack, cinnamon has a history to astonish. Its intoxicating spicy-sweet scent attracted traders from all over the world. Considered as the most desirable spice during the Middle ages, it was exorbitantly priced and unavailable to the common man. Be it the Ceylon cinnamon ( Sri Lankan Cinnamomum verum) or the Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia from China, Vietnam, India and Indonesia), powdered or in stick form, this luxurious spice has amazing anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, immunity-boosting, antioxidant, cholesterol lowering and anti-inflammatory properties. It contains an unparalleled archive of nutrients, ranging from minerals, amino acids, vitamins and essential fatty acids. Sprinkle it on your veggies or gulp it down as an early morning mix with water, honey and lemon, it has shown beneficial effects on regulating metabolism, detoxifying and weight loss. Cinnamon stays irreplaceable, be it your favourite eating joint or your home but it also comes with a disclaimer: an overdo of it can bestow immense damage on liver and kidneys due to its Coumarin content, so go cautious with your daily portion.

Cure it with Cumin
Good things come in small packages! Cumin, a warm and bitter tasting dried seed of the herb Cuminum cyminum, can season your dishes as well as it can spruce up your system. Anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, antiviral/fungal/bacterial, digestive and detoxifying, the list goes endless for the benefits cumin offers. The high fiber content makes it an effective source of regulating digestion and treating constipation. Cumin water has been the mantra for weight loss for ages. A daily morning ritual of this magic potion can truly cast magic on your metabolism, lower cholesterol levels and decrease body fat. In your yoghurt on in your lentil soup, soaked or powdered, cumin certainly prospers your health.

The Fiery Two: Cayenne Pepper and Black Pepper
If your throat burns, your fat too will! 2 of the most popular seasonings used worldwide, both these renowned (red and black) varieties of pepper from the scriptures of Eastern medicine, are from natural herbs with potential fat burning characters. They prevent fat cell differentiation and enhance fat metabolism, basically blocking new fat cells to be formed. Let these spicy sprinkles give not only your soup a kick, but your belly fat too!

 Apart from these prominent spices, there are a few other notorious ones like cardamom, curry leaves, ginger and garlic, posing potential threat to the fat fraternity! They act as appetite suppressants, lipid- and glucose-lowering agents and enhance fatty acid oxidation for weight loss. Be it your favourite stir fried freckled with garlic or the ambrosial splutter of curry leaves on your daal, from a splash of freshly grated ginger on your salad to a simple cardamom-ginger tea, you wont miss out on the wonderful attributes of these good Samaritans!

A good look at your spice rack and you will discover an entire habitation of health embracing your kitchen. Add the spices not to make your food hotter, but to make them healthier. Nutritionist and dieticians too recommend use of spices in daily cooking even while on a weight-loss regimen. Wouldn't your, after all, want the food you are eating to be tasty as well? Spices make our dishes enjoyable to eat; relishing your food, be it for sustenance or weight loss, has better effect on metabolism and absortion of nutrients. And food taken in half-heartedly gives only half-hearted results!

Most of these spices are indigenous; but practically all are easily available. You do not need to rush to supermarkets or gourmet stores to grab them or wait for weeks before they grow on your terrace garden. Their accessibility and economical value should push us to exploit their benefits to the maximum. Just that, we need to be prudent in exerting our generosity; too much of spice in food can be intimidating: stomach ulcers, heartburns, intestinal irritation and disturbed bowel movements, to name a few. The correct quantity, proportion, and combination determine if your spices are going to regulate your system or just rumble your rectum!

Gas or charcoal, vegetables or meat, for health or weight loss, on a summer picnic or a winter backyard lunch, Grilling takes home the trophy! With promises to stay uncompromising on the flavour and aroma of your entrees, this original American tradition of cooking has populated half the world. Grilling can be a fun activity providing the freedom to experiment on different kinds of food and offers an abundance of health benefits.
 
Grilling can utilize any of the major heat sources like charcoal, gas, electricity or wood. The fuel determines the characteristic taste of your grilled delectables! Many believe that charcoal cooking can release carcinogenic substances into the food being cooked on it and hence is recommended to be used sparingly or atleast for a shorter duration.

The greatest benefit we can derive from grilling is the positive impact on the nutritive value of food. Since there is no deep frying or boiling, vegetables can retain their vitamin and mineral compositions to a greater extent and are less likely to get dehydrated. The more weight-conscious ones have an added advantage; not only does grilling eliminate the use of butter or oil for cooking, but also causes excess fats or oils intrinsic to the meat, to drip away, dishing out a healthier option on your plates. And a platter of grilled fish/meat/cottage cheese/protein source with vegetables along with your required portion of carbs can undeniably be placed right on the top of your best weight loss food list.

Say Bingo to the Barbecue!
Barbecuing is also a great way to retain the health quotient of your groceries; the only difference being that barbecuing does not allow your food to come in direct contact with the heat source (charcoal or the flame) while grilling is a contact-cooking procedure.

Grilling and barbecuing can be a great option to dice some sides and starters for your get-togethers too. Feel free to trash down those conventional deep-fried baby corns, meat nuggets and drizzling potato wedges and place the succulent seasonal veggies and lean meat on the grill as you snap open your beer can or toast the champagne.

Grilling offers you the freedom to experiment on spices, condiments, sauces and dressings. A marinade of practically anything can be used for grilling. The unique texture and taste a grill provides can compliment beautifully, the flavours of your choice of seasoning. Not just for outdoors and parties, grilling can be made a practice for everyday life. It may take a few weeks before you get accustomed to the whats and hows of it but once you do, it can prove to be a fantastic lifestyle option.
 
Dieticians and nutritionists strongly recommend grilling or barbecuing meals and snacks for weight loss as well as maintenance. The diversity of vegetables and meat that can be cooked is incredible. From kababs to mushroom, corn, marinated aubergines, asparagus, breads, jacket potatoes and surprisingly even desserts, the list on the platter goes endless. Although grilling and barbecuing are the healthiest ways to prepare your meal, some crucial aspects have to be paid attention to. The quintessential dilemma of every grill-lover “WHAT and HOW MUCH of grilled stuff can be stomached down?” lurks nevertheless. Just because something is healthy does not always mean it can be consumed ad libitum!

Following a few simple tips can make your grilling experience more nutritionally fulfilling:

• Stick to the portion-size rules. Don't stuff it in; be mindful while eating.
  
• Grilling potatoes, pasta, etc. is a great way to spruce up your carbs, but keep your measures in mind before laying the plate for yourself. Don’t overdo with starch.
  
• Eating grilled chicken is healthy. But eating a pound of it is definitely NOT. Again, portion control. Cloak in lean meat like chicken and fish instead of beef or pork.
  
• Fill half your plate up with vegetables. Leave no extra room for the temptations!
  
• Use tin foils to wrap and moisture lock meat and veggies, especially those with low water content.
  

Grilling and barbecuing can be a fun way to bring in healthy recipes as part of your daily nutritional needs without bargaining for taste and indeed add that extra zing to festivities. So pull out your grillers and tandoors, sip on your wine while your fodder soaks and sizzles away to health and goodness!