The Indian balanced diet plan

What to include in the balanced diet chart a.k.a. healthy eating chart? It doesn't have to be sprouts and salads only, though those are certainly good for you. The renowned nutrition and wellness expert Rujuta Diwekar told her audience once that the food a person grew up with was the food to which the body would respond to the best. Therefore, for Indian women, what works best for permanent weight loss is an Indian balanced diet plan.

1. Make small tweaks
Cut down on the packaged and processed foods; they're usually loaded with sodium, which may lead to bloating and a higher risk of heart problems. Whenever possible, eat fresh produce, as we always did in India, and make your juices by throwing diced fruits and veggies into the blender. Eliminate the white (rice, sugar, bread) and go for brown. Pick wholewheat atta over refined flour.

2. Eat seasonal fruits
Eat seasonal fruits from the local market instead of exotic imports found out of season. Seasonal fruits usually are rich in the compounds that the body needs for that time of the year, e.g. guava and orange, rich in Vitamin C, come to the market in winter, just when you need that vitamin to guard against the common cold.

3. Stir-fry instead of deep-fry
The occasional samosa won't bust your weight loss plan, but on a daily basis, stir-frying is a far better idea than deep-frying, as you can keep the calorie count low without sacrificing taste.

4. To increase the basal metabolic rate
Eat several small meals a day. This gives the body repeated assurance that more food is coming -it stops hoarding calories and happily burns fat. A small meal isn't a bag of crisps and vending machine coffee; its a fruit, or a small portion of trail mix (dry fruits and unsalted nuts), or a small bowl of daal with a roti, or a bowl of oats.

5. Do some lightweight training
This builds muscle tone, giving the body a more sculpted look, and increases the basal metabolic rate. A daily workout with light weights - make it a low-intensity workout, if you cant do more - prompts the body to go on burning calories long after you've stopped exercising. Even 5-10 minutes a day is a lot better than nothing. It doesn't take much to re-orient your lifestyle and achieve permanent weight loss. Think of it as perfect weight, made in India.