Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Even in India where tea is almost a staple drink in most houses, coffee has its own special place. For some people, their day does not start without their morning cup of coffee.

Coffee has been known to boost energy levels and increase attention and focus. This is no more a myth, even research has proven that coffee can have some serious health benefits.

Intermittent fasting is one of the most popular trends in the Health and Fitness Industry. Often referred to as a diet, intermittent fasting is actually an eating pattern which became popular in the UK in 2012 with the BBC2 television documentary Eat, Fast, and Live Longer.

Gradually with the help of books and internet, the Intermittent Fasting wave has spread across the world. It has become a trend even in the United States’ Silicon Valley.

Breakfast is not just the first meal of the day but the most important one too. We Indians are lucky to have a huge variety of options available to include in our breakfast. But sadly we are either feasting on buttery paranthas or eating processed cereals such as cornflakes. They are obviously not going to help you stay healthy in the long run.

These 5 innovative breakfast recipes that I am going to give you have been a part of my life since the past 3 years and have been recommended by dieticians and nutritionists themselves. So, forget repeating the same old thing daily for your breakfast and dig into some mouth-watering healthy food.

Metabolism is often confused with the term metabolic rate in the health and fitness world. Metabolism includes all the chemical reactions that take place in our body which keep us alive and functioning whereas the metabolic rate is the number of calories our body burns even when it is at rest.

Most people who seek out ways to lose weight know that improved metabolism can end their cycle of never-ending diets followed by weight gain. The higher your metabolism the more calories you burn and the easier it is to lose weight and avoid putting it on again. Having a high metabolism not just helps you lose weight but it makes you feel good about your body overall, you are more energetic both mentally and physically. However, the speed of metabolism depends on a variety of factors, including age, sex, body fat, muscle mass, activity level, and genetics. Men tend to burn more calories than women, even while resting. And for most people, metabolism slows steadily after the age of 40. Some estimates suggest that it actually slows down by 5 percent every decade after your 40th birthday.

According to WHO’s 2018 report over 300 million people worldwide suffer from mental health issues. Mental health is probably one of the most ignored health issue in India. With a population of 1.2 billion India has slightly more than just 43 Government-run mental Institutions.

When it comes to countries, India is the most depressed country in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, followed by China and the USA. India, China, and the US are the most affected countries by anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

Even with such shocking results, depression is still a stigma in the Indian Society. India is on the verge of a mental health crisis but the attitude of most Indians towards this issue isn’t helping much. The West has started taking it seriously there are counsellors at schools, colleges, offices, etc. but here in India we still link mental illness with black magic, demonic possessions, etc.

This is a well-known fact that reducing carb intake can lead to weight loss. A low-carb diet can give faster results than a low-fat diet and may even help to maintain weight loss.

The “DIRECT” study compared low-carb, low-fat, and Mediterranean-style diets and found that after 2 years, weight loss and maintenance were better for low-carb and Mediterranean-style diets as compared to low-fat diets. (1)

Even though going on a low or no carb diet seems obvious, it’s not that easy. A low carb diet can make you go nuts because your body depends on carbs as the main energy source. However, another approach which is popular among athletes is carb cycling. This gives you the benefits of a low carb diet and on the other hand, it also lets you feed your body with high carbs on few days.

Counting calories is by far the most overrated concept in the diet industry. Every diet you can think of till today is based on the simple yet stupid idea of calorie counting. In her 1918 book “Diet and health”  Lulu Hunt Peters introduced this concept and insisted that you should eat everything keeping in mind the calories, so you don't eat a slice of bread but you eat 100 calories of bread. “Diet and Health” was the first book on dieting to become a bestseller.

Even after 100 years, we are still stuck in that same place. Every year new diets come and go leaving us fat or even fatter. Some of you must be new to dieting, starting the trendy keto or paleo. Why not? After all its ‘IN’ these days. I have no doubt all newbies must be seeing some fabulous results. Even dieticians, trainers and some experts, recommend restricting calorie and to some extent,  it does work then why bother?

So, after hours of speculation, you have finally decided to embark upon the weight loss journey. Where do you start? Most likely you will start by looking up the internet, to find the quickest ways for losing weight and needless to say you will find tons of them.

But more than half of the ways you will come up with are well-established myths. Even though, you know the best way to lose weight is eating right and working out right, still you will fall in the trap of fad diets and detox routines.

So, before you start this slim-down journey let’s see what are some of the biggest weight loss myths and lies, that will cut out most of the confusion.

This is a question which has puzzled almost every woman at some point in time. Doesn't matter whether you exercise or not during your cycle, but you definitely must have given this a thought. I am no different than you. There was a time in my life when this wasn’t even a concern for me. If you don’t work out, menstruating or not what difference does it make !! Life was simple back then, huh !!

Well, it seems with age and a screwed metabolism you think a lot and you learn a lot. So did I !!

To start with if you are lucky enough to have just a 2-3 days bleeding period, skipping workout could be an option but if you bleed for a good 7 days skipping your workout could be a major roadblock in your routine.

Before I start with the facts and research let’s just get this straight- There is nothing wrong with working out during your periods. This has been well established by research and even experts recommend working out while menstruating. But there are some do’s and don’ts you need to know before you put on your gym clothes and head out.

Most of you must have tried to lose weight at some point in your life and if you drink regularly or even occasionally, it is obvious to wonder whether alcohol can hamper your efforts to lose weight or not.

The first step you will take before drinking that pint of beer you are holding after a long and tiring Friday is to google “ can alcohol affect weight loss?” or “can alcohol make you gain weight?” and will end up getting confused. Some of you will go a step further and use a calorie counter to find the calories in your drink and calculate how you will compensate them by running a few extra miles tomorrow.

Till now I have consulted three dieticians to lose weight and all three of them advised me to stay away from alcohol. One even gave me a list of particular drinks to avoid. But the fact is I have often cheated on my plans having a drink or two every weekend but almost always I have lost weight at the end of each week. Does that mean you can drink and still lose weight?

Feeling bloated sucks !!! One day you perfectly fit into a dress and the next day you are struggling with it. Bloating can get pretty annoying and uncomfortable.

But how do we actually get bloated?

There are two types of bloating- One that is caused by gas and the other is caused by water retention.

Gas bloat can be caused by eating certain foods. These foods can be different for different people. For some, it could be dairy or beans and for others, it could be cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli.

Water bloat will make you look puffy all over. This type of bloat is caused by dehydration, hormonal changes during periods or eating a lot of salty food.

If you have read my previous articles you must be aware by now that I am not a huge fan of processed and packaged foods. Why? Because they are loaded with salts, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives. To simply put it the marketing industry is selling us crap in the name of low-calorie and low-fat products.

But just a few months back I stumbled upon this product named SuperFat. SuperFat is a nut butter. Now, I love nut butters but that’s not what made me order it all the way from the US !! What caught my attention was its ingredients list which had no preservatives at all and has some premium super nuts like macadamia and almonds!!

It can get really tricky being on a diet and trying to eat healthy while you also have to attend a party. I myself eat healthy throughout the week but when it comes to the weekend either there is a party or a family get together.

If skipping such events was an option nothing could have been better but most of the times there are social obligations and you can do nothing about it. But you still want to eat healthy, Right? You worked hard through the week, your diet was going great. You don’t want all that effort to go to waste just for one night.

So, what can you do about it?

This is a question which has confused all of us for years. Some say drinking water after meal interferes with digestion then there are others who say drinking water before or during meals is not a healthy habit.

Water is certainly great for our health and we need to drink plenty of it but when it comes with meals, timing can play an important role.

So as my glass of water sat and waited for the right time I started exploring when to pick it up. The thing with Google is it will give you 10 benefits of drinking water after a meal and 10 benefits of not drinking after a meal. So before I lost my trust in Google I settled down on two approaches- Ayurveda and modern research. What does these two suggest?

But before that let’s see how does our digestive system actually works?

Cannabis legalisation is a hot topic not just in India but throughout the world. A part of our history, culture, and religion cannabis consumption has been and still is popular in India. Sold and known by various names Charas, Ganja, and the not so “offensive”  Bhang is nothing but the different parts of the same plant called Cannabis. The resin forms charas, the flowers form ganja and the seeds and leaves give bhang. If you eat the leaves it's cool after all its “Bhole Baba ka Prasad” but charas and ganja are suddenly synthetic drugs.

We have an ancient connection to this plant, while the world is accepting it now why we are still reluctant to remove the ban?

Ayurveda is the ancient Indian Science of healing. Yes !! it is not some hocus-pocus but a well-established science which has been there for as long as 5000 years. Some of the famous healing techniques now prominent even in the west such as Homeopathy and Polarity theory have stemmed from Ayurveda.

Ayurveda’s roots lie in the Vedic culture “Ayur” meaning life and “Veda” meaning science. So, Ayurveda is the science of life. Although developed in India the knowledge and effects of Ayurveda are not limited to India itself but can be applied to anyone around the world. That is why it has become so popular even in the West. (1)

People living away from home, sharing flats and having long working hours are literally living on food trucks and apps delivering food. Growing technology has made everything very convenient. Feeling hungry? Just open your phone, click a few icons and your food is on the way!! What’s even better it’s free after 30 minutes.

But as the convenience is increasing so is the risk of obesity. Globally, over two billion children and adults suffer from health problems related to being obese, and an increasing percentage of people die from these health conditions. America tops the list with 79.4 million obese people and China comes second. India, on the other hand, has the second highest number of obese children out of 184 countries.

Whether you are heading to your office or just going for an outing following a healthy diet can get really difficult. Most weight loss experts recommend eating something healthy every 2-3 hours but this simple advice is difficult to follow when you are not at home and can’t just put up a snack together.

These 10 pocket-friendly healthy snacks are easy to carry and will help you watch your weight along with several other health benefits.

The Fitness and weight loss industry have shunned ghee (clarified butter) for a long long time and the rest has been done by the marketing industry. Be it your dietitian, doctors or the numerous so-called health-centric commercials promoting low-fat “healthy snacks” everyone is after you to avoid ghee. It’s saturated fat !!! you should not eat it !!! You have heard it for so long that it has become the unquestionable truth.