Diets are of two types. If your body is of normal size and build or if you are overweight but not obese, a diet of three meals a day takes care of the needs of the body. If, however, by virtue of a poor metabolism or a condition such as diabetes, you find it difficult to reduce your food intake when underweight, you would be advised to skip breakfast and lunch to save calories. In the opposite situation, when you are carrying a lot of excess weight you would need a diet that is a little more in size to take in a greater number of calories in the form of carbohydrates and proteins. The right balance of nutritious, wholesome food should be supplemented with snacks to help control hunger pangs in between meals. As a general principle, forget restrictive or fad diets. One cannot do without any one type of food item in the long run, unless one is radically obese. Certain semi–starvation diets can damage your heart and kidneys and have been shown by medical research to cause liver cirrhosis. You cannot evade a healthy, well–balanced diet for a quick fix. A sensible weight loss programme has a balanced diet that would limit cholesterol intake, eliminate sugar and salt, and increase physical activity to a limited extent. It’s a long, but necessary, process to get rid of fat and enjoy one’s figure again. how does ingesting water properly improve your health? To add to your calorie consumption, add a couple of glasses of water to your meals. When you feel thirsty, drink water. Water also lubricates your joints and, hence, helps your body heal faster and prevents injuries. Lack of water in the body could be the advanced warning of a heart attack, and seizures and other medical emergencies could be avoided if taken in time. When we say that we need to drink more water we simply mean that we need to take adequate fluids into our body to avoid dehydration. To extract the benefits you get from water, it is recommended to drink water at room temperature and moderation so as not to dehydrate yourself. Hot water, such as boiled or tap water, can irritate delicate linings of the stomach and bladder and also cause stomach ulcers by scalding the linings. Cause less heat reduces scalding and speeds up gastric emptying and induces better betaine production. Excessive heat and cold could burn and rupture the esophageal and stomach membranes, thereby causing increased secretion of hydrochloric acid and pepsin and thirst, leading to overdependence on drinks which, in turn, predisposes one to water retention. Drinking water also helps digestion, removes constipation, equalizes blood pressure, helps regulate the amount of sugar in the bloodstream, eliminates excess weight, reduces workload on the kidneys, improves skin texture, helps maintain acid–alkali balance, helps maintain the immune system, etc. For best results, drink water at regular intervals throughout the day. There are many misconceptions about the so–called benefits of substituting meals for lots of water. To hydrate, water must be taken orally. It does not produce the same effects as when achieved by the consumption of food. Water consumption is good, but water consumption with food is better, as it causes the satiety spots to send nerve impulses to the stomach to stop emptying.
