After an indulgent period of festive feasting, many pledge to lose weight, exercise more and drink less when January arrives. But NHS medical director Professor Stephen Powis said fads such as diet pills, tea-toxes and appetite suppressants could at best be a waste of money and at worst pose a risk to our health.

He said: Its always a good time to try to get in shape, and new years resolutions are a great time to make a change, but the reality is theres a slim chance of success with diet pills and detox teas and people could end up doing more harm than good. Making new year goals and shifting a few excess pounds after Christmas can be a good idea but is much easier to maintain when done gradually and safely. Products claiming to help people lose weight quickly while reducing appetite and fatigue can have damaging side effects including diarrhoea, heart problems and even unplanned pregnancies caused by interference with oral contraception.

Prof Powis added: A good rule of thumb is: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Modern fads of detox teas, laxative drinks and appetite suppressant pills also promise the earth but can cost mind and body.

Get-fit-quick solutions can affect the digestive system and cause heart problems, as well as impacting mental health, by driving people towards seeking an idealised but unattainable body image.

The NHSs warning follows calls earlier this year for social media firms to crack down on influential celebrities posting misleading get fit quick" adverts.

READ NOW:High blood pressure: Juice proven to lower your reading[NEWS]

Kim Kardashian West was criticised in 2018 for advertising appetite-suppressing lollipops to more than 100 million followers on Instagram, in a post which was later deleted.

Instagram clamped down on diet and cosmetic surgery posts in September, announcing new rules that will see some hidden from under-18s and others promoting "miraculous" weight loss products removed.

With one in four young people saying their appearance is their top concern, Professor Powis warned that easy availability of quick-fix products online and on the high street including buy one get one free offers could exploit body image anxiety.

There is no doubt that some of us could benefit from shedding a few pounds, with two thirds of UK adults either overweight or obese.

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The most recent Health Survey for England found that just 28 per cent of adults and 18 per cent of children ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day in 2018.

More than half of adults (56 per cent) were found to be at increased, high, or very high risk of chronic disease due to their waist circumference and BMI.

However, Prof Powis stressed the importance of losing weight safely using the tried and tested methods which have worked for generations: eating well and exercising often.

He added: Alongside cutting-edge treatments and improved access to care, the NHS Long Term Plan is helping people to stay in control of their own health, including the revolutionary Diabetes Prevention Programme which helps people to lose weight safely, while NHS.uk has helpful tips, including a 12-week weight loss plan, alongside recommended apps to help boost fitness.

The British Nutrition Foundation also urged people to ditch the January diet and keep healthy eating simple.

The foundations science director Sara Stanner said: Although many of us start the year with the best intentions to get healthy, in reality, following a complicated diet plan can often just be too time-consuming, and too expensive to keep up.

To make New Years healthy eating pledges last, you need to ditch the January diet, and take a step back to consider the basics of healthy eating.

For quick and simple healthy options, Stanner recommended stocking up on certain canned and frozen foods which can help you put together a balanced dish in a hurry.

She said: Despite frequent media attention around the importance of clean eating, healthy food doesnt have to mean expensive ingredients and cooking absolutely everything from scratch.

The term processed foods covers a wide range of different foods with varying nutritional qualities.

While some are not healthy choices, others, like canned pulses or frozen vegetables, can be part of a healthy diet, and can help you to cook balanced meals, even when youre in a hurry.

Cost can be a large barrier when it comes to improving your diet, but with some savvy shopping, healthy eating doesnt need to break the bank.

Economy ranges are usually great value, and nutritionally there is often little difference between them and the standard or branded versions.

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Britons warned AGAINST fad diets by top doc and NHS director Slim chance of success! - Express

It is very beneficial to keep your brain sharp and focused. You should check out our best brain health tips by clicking here.

While you might have heard years ago that humans only use about 10 percent of their brains, this has since been proven incorrect. In fact, most of the brain is active most of the time.

Our goal should be to keep our brain healthy and happy to keep it in good working order. We are here to help you with the best brain health tips, so you can keep your brain healthy for more years.

Continue reading this article as we go over important brain health tips.

1. Dont Underestimate Sleep

There has been a trend over the past few years that pushed people toward sleeping as little as possible. Stories about CEOs that woke up at 4 AM with only a few hours of sleep were showcased as being the smartest and most well functioning people in the business world.

More people are beginning to see the importance of sleep and how it plays into our brain function. Lack of sleep is no longer a badge of honor, but people are now noticing they can get more done on a good nights rest.

The brain doesnt go off when you sleep, but its hard at work making sure everything we learned throughout the day is neatly organized in our brains.

2. Take Time to Exercise

Exercise is good for much more than your physical body. Exercise helps your brain health and even makes you feel better emotionally.

As long as youre using good form and paying attention to any doctors orders, exercise is a free way to get many benefits for your brain and body without any adverse side effects.

Exercise helps your brain cells grow as well as helps with the connections between brain cells. The growth factors put off through exercise helps your brain in ways we understand but also in ways we have no idea about yet that may be even more powerful.

3. Stimulate Your Mind

Scientists spend years studying rodent behavior to learn how the brain works. One of the things they have discovered is that mental stimulation is key.

When you use your brain on different activities, you are going to stimulate new connections between nerve cells. The brain can even generate new cells when doing brainy activities.

Doing brainy activities can help you hedge against future brain cell loss, so to say these activities are important is an understatement.

4. Improve Your Diet

Eating well is one of the most important things you can do for your brain health. Vegetables should be in your diet when you want to help your brain health, so even if you dont love vegetables, you need to find a way to get these in your diet.

Oily fish are also helpful for the brain because of the omega-3 fatty acids that help with improved memory and overall brain function.

5. Manage Your Stress Levels

Stress will keep you from being able to learn because it prioritizes immediate information and gives you a shorter attention span.

When we try to learn and perform tasks under stress, we are not giving our work the best of our abilities, and we are hurting our brain health.

Learning what works for your stress management is essential if you want to have your brain working at its highest capacity and being able to maintain and even gain health.

Some people choose to medicate to help with stress levels, but there are natural means of managing stress if you dont want to use medication.

6. Learn Something New

If youre constantly doing the same things, your brain health can decrease. Keeping yourself busy learning new things will allow your brain to be at its best health.

Whether youre learning a new hobby, language, or skill, any new learning will help your brain. Even learning something small can help with your brain health, so dont be afraid to choose to go a different route to work, learn how to play a video game, or something similar.

7. Avoid Toxins

We come in contact with enough toxins we dont mean to come in contact with, but putting toxins in our bodies is anything but helpful.

Do you drink a lot of alcohol, or do you use tobacco? Taking these toxins in your body can affect your brain badly, and youll notice that your mood is off, your memory is decreasing, and you lack in cognition.

8. Develop Strong Relationships

Having strong relationships with different types of people challenges you to be more creative. Not only will you have to be creative to learn how to communicate with different people, but you are going to learn things you wouldnt have otherwise learned.

Learning through conversations with your friends and family is a good way to gain information and perspective.

9. Meditate

Our brains are constantly on, and oftentimes, we are fighting against them with our own agenda. Meditation is a great way to allow our brains to have some time to themselves.

Mindfulness and meditation help our mental and physical health. Research is now supporting that meditation improves concentration and memory.

Brain Health Tips for the Win

Now you know these important brain health tips and can keep your brain healthy for years to come.

Do you want to learn more about health, wellness, and other important topics? Our site is full of articles that can help you as youre working to keep your health and wellness on track.

Browse our site to find other health-related articles that can help you in your goals, drop a bookmark, and come back again soon.

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9 Brain Health Tips That Can Help You Stay Sharp and Focused - Thrive Global

Eddie Hall is the former Worlds Strongest Man, best known for his record-holding 500kg deadlift in 2016 and winning the title of Worlds Strongest Man in 2017. After announcing his retirement from the strongman competition, the 31-year-old has since slimmed down by an incredible five stone, citing health fears as his motivation - how did he do it?

Today, Eddie appears on ITVs The Chase Celebrity Special, hosted by Bradley Walsh, alongside Dani Harmer, Chemmy Alcott and Alex Horn, going up against the Chasers.

Previously, it was reported that Eddie had chosen to go on a weight loss journey, citing health fears as his motivation, in order to drop five stone.

The decision to overhaul his lifestyle comes as no surprise after he cast light on the grueling daily routine he put his body through during his quest to become the strongest man in the world.

In 2017, the strongman released a tell-all book, titled Strongman: My Story, where he recalled the weeks leading up to setting the world record and recalled how it put his relationship with his family under strain.

He wrote in 2017: Being a foul-mouthed history-making cheeky behemoth does come at a cost.

Ever since agreeing to do the lift I have had to virtually ignore my wife and kids and, over the last six months, I have spent no more than a few hours in their company.

That in itself has obviously been a massive sacrifice for all of us but, in truth, its just the tip of the iceberg.

"My daily routine has been to eat, sleep, train, recover and repeat and in addition to a couple of short but extremely severe bouts of depression, which I think were triggered by stress and isolation, I have gradually become less mobile.

Eddie went on to explain why it was critical for him to follow the strict regime.

He added: In order to lift such a massive weight I had to put on an extra 15kg in weight and right now I am just over 31 stone.

My God, its been hard though.

I have suffered all kinds of pain over the years, but preparing for this has been a different kind of Hell and even now I am in a very, very dark place.

After winning the title in 2017, the athlete became concerned about his health and decided to slim down.

He said: When I won the worlds strongest man at 29, I was 31st 7lb, thats what I had to be the strongest man on the planet.

I had a few health implications, working with blood doctors and nutritionists I got a bit worried.

So, how did Eddie Hall lose weight?

Hall revealed he cut back on carbohydrates in a bid to shape up and managed to drop around five stone.

I cut my carbs out and over the last two years I lost a total of 30kg, or five stone, and I feel a lot better for it and am enjoying my life better for it.

Hall previously revealed to Express.co.uk that he used swimming, among other cardio exercises to shed the weight and get back into a slimmer shape.

He said earlier this year: What I do now is Ive thrown in a couple of boxing sessions a week.

I do a land-based training session, I do a swimming session, and then I bought a push-bike as well so Im doing a lot of cycling.

Ive probably piled on about five or six hours a week in cardio on top of my weight training.

Ive got a six pack and Im quite happy to stay at this, until I get a bit older [in his late 40s and 50s] when maybe Ill have to reduce the weight a little bit more.

As well as including cardio exercise to burn off the weight, Hall reduced his daily calorie intake from the whopping 10,000 calories he was used to.

He explained removing unhealthy carbs can be the best way for dieters to get into shape.

The best tip I have would be cut the carbs a little bit, they are the source of all health and obesity problems in this country, Eddie claimed.

That was the easiest thing I did, up my proteins and fats and cut the carbs a little bit and it worked for me first hand.

Read the rest here:
Eddie Hall weight loss: Strongman lost five stone by cutting this one food out of diet - Express

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Millennials (born 1980-2000) are the largest and most educated generation. But, they are also the most unhealthy.

Despite the fact that many millennials are all about their yoga boutique trends, green juices, and meditation memberships, they are in worse health than their older counterparts, Generation X (born 1965-19790).

The wellness trend isnt translating into actually being healthy, according to research.

A study conducted by Blue Cross Blue Shield estimates that without intervention, millennials could see mortality rates increase to 40% more than Gen-Zers of the same age.

So, what are the health issues causing this rapid decline and concern for the future?

Millennials behavioral health is becoming a widespread concern. Rates of major depression have increased by 31%, rates of psychotic conditions have increased by 15%, and rates of substance use have risen 10%. The unfortunate truth here is that overall health appears to be worse for female millennials compared to their male counterparts, especially in regards to major depression, Type 2 diabetes, and endocrine conditions.

It doesnt stop here, though. Depression, anxiety, and loneliness are on the rise for millennials, and all generations.

Given that millennials make up the majority of the workforce, their overall health will largely impact the entire economys health. Unhealthy employees are less productive, and their lower health levels could cost millennials more than $4,500 per year (or $375/month). When you consider that millennials spend on average $4,300 per year on entertainment and apparel alone, that reduction in expendable cash will hurt the economy.

Now that you understand how serious this really is, its time to consider what you can do today to improve your health.

1. Reduce your screen time.

There is no secret that millennials are some of the most connected people online today, and yet 30% have reported always or often feeling lonely while 27% say they have no close friends. This loneliness is in large part due to social media, according to a study by Penn State, which found a strong correlation between increased time spent on social media and decreased well-being.

To combat this loneliness, dedicate time away from your social media in order to work on building face-to-face connections. Personal interaction is something so many people crave, yet dont actively seek out. According to the BlueZone studies, the healthiest regions of the world, researchers found that among diet, exercise and adequate sleep, a sense of community was what kept these people so healthy. Dont limit it to people just your age! Build relationships with your grandparents, and dont forget your younger family members.

Many young professionals live far away from their immediate family, which makes it all the more important to establish new relationships and a sense of community. Start to attend meetup groups, join a community-focused gym or become a member of a networking group that meets regularly.

If stepping away completely from social media sounds too difficult, or perhaps it is a necessity for your business, simply take note of how you use it on a daily basis. The way you use social media largely affects the impact it has on your mental well-being.

Additional data has shown that people who generate a connected community online are less likely to associate with depression and anxiety as opposed to someone who has high usage on a wide variety of platforms with a broad audience. What this means is, in order to get the most out of social media, create a niche community that you connect with, as opposed to scrolling through random sites and strangers profiles. The key here is quality over quantity.

2. Visit your doctor.

Preventative health matters. This is something that hasnt seemed to catch on with millennials considering that two-thirds of them report not going to a doctor until they are sick or in need of urgent care.

Im no health expert, but I can confidently state that there are some great advantages to visiting a doctor annually, even if you dont feel ill. They can perform blood work, check your blood pressure, run an MRT test to learn what causes allergies and inflammation specific to you. An overall exam today goes far beyond listening to your breathing with a stethoscope. You might have been running around all year without taking the time to notice a small mole changing color or that your heart was literally skipping beats.

A doctors check-up will help you catch signs and symptoms before they become something more serious. Schedule out annual recurring dermatology, gynecology, and optometry appointments. There are many illnesses, such as cervical cancer, that if caught early can be easily treated, but if left untested turn serious.

3. Consider your health before your finances.

Open enrollment for health insurance started last month (November) and that has meant many people are considering which health care plan to get, or whether they should enroll at all.

It might be tempting to forgo health care given the recent changes in 2019, especially if you dont have a serious illness. Health insurance plans can be expensive. In fact, the average monthly cost for an individual was $547 in 2018. You might be thinking about all the great things you could do with that money instead.

So why pay a monthly fee for something you wont use? Well, consider that an ER visit without insurance will run you anywhere from $150 upwards of $3,000 and in some instan

ces reach $20,000 depending on the severity. A recent study unveiled that 66% of all bankruptcies are tied to medical issues, either from the exorbitant cost for care or for the time out of work due to illness. Already, your insurance plan would be worth that one visit.

Realize that you are the most important thing you can invest in, not your house, not your social media profile... you. If your physical isnt working, you cannot perform on a mental level.

Being healthy is the greatest gift and most rewarding investment you can give yourself.

Link:
Millennials: The Most Unhealthy Generation At Work - Forbes

Victoria Beckhams opening up about her eating and drinking habits.

The former member of the Spice Girls, who heads up her own eponymous luxury label, shared what her diet includes in a YouTube video published on Dec. 11, 2019, where she answered the most Googled questions about herself.

The designer who shares four children with her longtime husband, David Beckham, offered up details about her diet in the five-minute video. Answering the first question, What is Victoria Beckhams diet? the 45-year-old shared whats included in her meals. While she reaches for fresh foods that are packed with good-for-you nutrients she admitted to making room for a treat or two.

Beckham called her diet healthy, saying [it includes] lots of fresh fish, fresh vegetables, fruit, [and] lots of water to keep hydrated. When shes not guzzling water like other celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez who is known to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, the former pop star drinks lots of tequila and lots of red wine.

Watch Beckham answer other FAQs about herself in the video below:

While Beckham once told Vogue shed skip meals to fit into a tight dress later, as a mom she makes a point to go without food while eating with her family. She told Glamour shes adopted a positive attitude toward food.

You realize they notice everything, Beckham said. I would never sit down with my kids and skip a meal. You need to show little people how to be healthy and happy with who they are, she explained.

When shes not enjoying healthy meals with the occasional glass of red wine or tequila or working, Beckham can be found on the treadmill watching TV. The designer starts her mornings off with exercise by doing a mix of uphill fast walking, jogging, running, she told Womens Health. Thats the only time I watch TV boxsets, documentaries so I look forward to that, Beckham said.

After cardio, shes not done. Beckham continues with strength training.

She continues for at least another hour on other aspects of training. Beckham does 30-minutes legs, 30-minutes arms, toning and conditioning, then loads of planks and that kind of thing for my core, the designer said.

After her intense gym session is over, Beckham goes on with the rest of her day whether that means dropping her kids off at school, heading to the office, or traveling. While the time she spends in the gym might seem excessive to some, the mother and business owner works especially hard in the gym because she asks a lot of her body.

I expect a lot from my body Im 44, Ive got four kids, I work a lot, I travel, she told the publication at the time. For me to do all that, I have to eat healthily and work out.

Read more:
Victoria Beckham Says Her Diet Includes 'Lots of Tequila and Lots of Red Wine' - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

It sounds like a great idea. To solve your financial woes, you temporarily change your habits and hope that will result in more cash and better habits.

Problem is, it may backfire. At best, the key word is "temporary." Just like with food or health diets, whatever you do to make some kind of change has to be sustainable and permanent.

If you merely cut calories for a month, the weight will come back when you resume your old eating habits.

If you ramp down spending for a month, your financial picture is going to return to its former dim view when you go back to dinners out and shopping sprees.

Whether or not any diet works is up for grabs.

Monica Sipes, a certified financial planner and senior wealth advisor at Exencial Wealth Advisors in Frisco, Texas, never recommends this strategy.

"It usually follows an overspend or a bad financial situation," Sipes said. "It's a restriction, often temporary, and I haven't ever seen it work well."

You're better off with a budget and some financial goals, which you support with some type of savings and perhaps a sacrifice. "Ultimately, it comes down to why you are making the decisions around your money, not a temporary restriction to undo bad spending habits," Sipes said.

Alicia McElhaney, founder of She Spends, a personal finance website aimed at women, says there's nothing wrong with comparing saving with healthy eating. "It's described as an investment in your future, which is great," McElhaney said.

What McElhaney doesn't like is when people equate not saving money with being overweight or lazy. "I've seen quite a bit more talk about dieting, body hate and discomfort with fatness on social media in personal finance circles than I expected when I first got into this," McElhaney said.

Weight is a fraught subject in our culture, McElhaney said, "so, of course, it seeps into everything, including personal finance."

The standard diet advice do it sensibly holds true for your finances.

A budget doesn't have to be restrictive. It just means you create a plan for your money. Your goal is to become more aware of how you spend, says Lauren Anastasio, a CFP at New York personal finance company SoFi.

More from Invest in You: Almost no one has these three things in place for emergencies Avoid 6 financial mistakes when you teach kids about money Try these surprising strategies to use up flex spending

The best time to restrict your spending in a determined, short-term way is when you have a specific financial goal. Whether you'd like to pay off credit card debt or save for a vacation, reducing your discretionary spending frees some income to allocate toward those goals, Anastasio says.

Her firm encourages members to divide their income into three parts commonly known as the 50/30/20 rule of budgeting: 50% should go to fixed, essential expenses such as rent, utilities and insurance; 20% goes into savings; and 30% is for discretionary spending.

As can happen with food dieting, being too restrictive financially can end in a binge. Whether it's money or calories, the goal should be something practical and sustainable.

"Reevaluate your plan and make adjustments," Anastasio said. You can taper off regular check-ins after you've established some good habits.

Definitely tweak your plan as you go along. "Sometimes we like to think we can make it to the gym every morning before work but find that we're more likely to go to the group exercise classes offered in the evening," Anastasio said.

Spending diets, no-buys and no-spends aren't on Pauline Yan's radar. "The brain doesn't process the negative part that well," said Yan, a portfolio manager in Toronto who has a personal finance blog. Instead, all your brain is likely to hear is "spending," "buy" and "spend."

Pauline Yan, 42, says managing your money starts with scouting your feelings.

Source: Pauline Yan

And your brain will then notice all the opportunities to buy and spend.

That's why people boomerang after a diet. "They used up a lot of willpower to make it through," Yan said. "But I find the yo-yoing back and forth to be worse for my overall budget."

It helps to dig into the "why" of a purchase. After all, most of us have pretty much everything we already need. New lipstick? Yan says she's got plenty. "I don't need a new one," Yan said. "Same with clothes. No one needs another little black dress."

Purchases often come on the heels of a feeling. "People are not in touch with what they're feeling," Yan said. "We don't want to admit we feel bad. If we do, we're trained to buy our way out of it."

The solution is to get in touch with your feelings. Why do you want to make a certain purchase?

Yan does two things when she wants to buy something. First, she scouts whether she already owns a similar item. If she does, she writes it down, which sparks her to ask why she'd like to buy it again.

She found herself eyeing a makeup palette that she might use on a trip and had a light-bulb moment. "The reason I liked it is, I really enjoy traveling," she said. "That's going to be perfect when I go somewhere.I was trying to buy the feeling I have when I go on vacation."

Her solution was to plan a trip and find a picture of a destination. Yan kept it in her wallet as a reminder of her true goal. "I feel like a lot of the buying [we do] has to do with a value that we want in our lives," she said. "We're just going about it in a very consumeristic fashion."

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Going on a so-called cash diet may not be the best way to fatten your wallet - CNBC

'How Not to Diet' author Dr. Michael Greger discusses the approach people should take to effectively lose weight.

The year 2020 is just days away and people are getting ready to commit to their New Years resolutions.

Online learning company GoSkills revealed that the top two most popular New Years resolutions include exercising more and losing weight, but only 46 percentof people with resolutions were successful. So what makes the pursuit so difficult?

Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Diet, told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo that losing weight just wont happen with poor eating.

You cant outrun a bad diet, he said. In a few minutes, you can wipe out a whole hour of exercise.

Greger said this is why theres more power in controlling caloric intake than outtake.

PELOTON RIVAL ECHELON CYCLES INTO MARKET WITH LOWER PRICE TAG

In How Not to Diet, Greger discusses exactly how to form a diet that delivers optimal results, based on researching thousands of other dietary flops.

I just wanted there to finally be an evidence-based diet book, he said. I [dug] up every possible tip, trick andtechnique proven to accelerate the loss of body fat, to give people every possible advantage and basically build the optimal weight loss solution from the ground up.

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The criteria for Gregers plan include a commitment to permanent dietary change but itmay be the safest and cheapest approach, he said.

Permanent weight loss requires permanent dietary change

The optimal weight loss diet should be anti-inflammatory, clean, free from hormone-disrupting chemicals, filled with fiber-rich foods to trap calories and flush them out of the body, he said. Bottom line, we should eat real foods that grow out of the ground. A diet centered around whole plant foods.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Greger said the healthiest food options include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.

Modeling studies suggest that if half of Americans ate a single more serving of fruits and vegetables a day, it would prevent 20,000 cases of cancer every year, he said. That's how powerful produce is."

Read more here:
New Years resolution: 'How Not to Diet' author on trick to successful weight loss - Fox Business

Lets start with what to eat and the foods to avoid eating. What follows will likely sound familiar to aficionados of a Mediterranean-style diet: a plant-based diet focused on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and cold-water fish and plants like soybeans and flax seeds that contain omega-3 fatty acids.

A Mediterranean-style diet is rich in micronutrients like magnesium, vitamin E and selenium that have anti-inflammatory effects, and its high-fiber content fosters lower levels of two potent inflammatory substances, IL-6 and TNF-alpha.

Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, strongly recommends limiting or eliminating consumption of foods known to have a pro-inflammatory effect. These include all refined carbohydrates like white bread, white rice and pastries; sugar-sweetened beverages; deep-fried foods; and red meat and processed meats. They are the very same foods with well-established links to obesity (itself a risk factor for inflammation), heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

In their stead, Dr. Hu recommends frequent consumption of foods known to have an anti-inflammatory effect. They include green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale and collards; fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines; fruits like strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes, oranges and cherries; nuts like almonds and walnuts; and olive oil. The recommended plant foods contain natural antioxidants and polyphenols, and the fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, all of which counter inflammation.

Coffee and tea also contain protective polyphenols, among other anti-inflammatory compounds.

The bottom line: the less processed your diet, the better.

At the same time, dont neglect regular exercise, which Dr. James Gray, cardiologist at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, calls an excellent way to prevent inflammation. He recommends 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise and 10 to 25 minutes of weight or resistance training at least four to five times a week.

Although exercise is pro-inflammatory while youre doing it, during the rest of the time it leaves you better off by reducing inflammation, and after all you live most of your life not exercising, Stephen Kritchevsky, professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine, told me. Independent of any effect on weight, exercise has been shown to lower multiple pro-inflammatory molecules and cytokines.

More:
Tackling Inflammation to Fight Age-Related Ailments - The New York Times

Nothing can kickstart your weight loss and fitness journey faster than a bout of self realisation. 22-year-old Pankaj Kumar tells us that he started hitting the gym to not just lose weight but also get ripped to overcome an inactive lifestyle. I wanted to invest my time in bettering my life, my confidence and also my mental well-being.

When I began my weight loss and fitness journey, I weighed 77 kgs with a fat accumulation of 27-30 per cent, he says. To build a ripped body, the first thing that you need to do is get rid of your bodys excess fat and then work towards building lean muscles, which Pankaj was able to do by losing 11 kgs, courtesy of one genius diet hack calorie deficit.

A calorie deficit is a specific diet pattern that revolves around the number of calories you consume in a day. According to Healthline, the concept is based on the idea that as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, youre bound to lose weight.

This diet pattern requires you to calculate the number of calories your body needs to consume to function smoothly without feeling hungry, and how much deficit you need create without harming your health.

The deficit can then be created by cutting down empty calories and unhealthy fats. Keep in mind that the number of calories required to create a deficit is different for different body types. You can calculate yours online via a calorie calculator.

QUICK READ: How many calories should you eat every day to lose weight?

I am an eggetarian, my calorie deficit diet was a combination of vegetarian sources (mostly paneer, tofu, low-fat milk, sprouts, dal, nuts, low-fat curd, fruit salads, rice, fresh veggies, brown bread, peanut butter) and eggs.

QUICK READ: This is how eating eggs daily will help you lose weight without compromising on flavour

Since the number of calories one needs to consume will keep changing as per your goals, the quantity of the foods will also change, as it did for me. But these foods comprised my daily diet. The same is also true for your exercise regime, I followed the below exercise regime to lose 11 kgs before switching the routine again to build my body up.

I used to workout 5-6 days/week and the basic routine comprised Weight Training + HIIT/Sprints. More importantly, I used to train 2 body parts in a day and focused more on Compound Movements such as Bench press, Overhead press, Push ups, Deadlift, Pull ups and Squats.

QUICK READ: You're truly fit if you can do these 10 pushup variations

My body transformation has gone through whats popularly known as 'a weight recycle'. Simply put, I lost 11 kgs in 4months (77 kgs to 66 kgs) by following the above diet and exercise regime, which essentially also meant that I lost a lot of the excess body fat. So with the excess body fat gone, I became lean and then started to work on gaining healthy muscle mass. So, now I am 76 kgs with lots of muscle mass and very less fat percentage.

1. Follow a calorie deficit diet

2. Track your calories daily (if you don't want to do that then work on a trial and error method by reducing your portion size and checking your weight weekly, if your weight goes down then voila this is perfect portion size for you!)

3. Eat more vegetables and protein-rich food. Vegetables are loaded with minerals and vitamins. Protein-rich food will help retain muscle mass and also help burn calories.

4. Drink more water.

5. Do weight training. It helps shape the body and retain muscle while losing weight and also walk more (at least 10,000 steps). Walking strengthens the joints and also promotes heart health.

6. Be consistent and stay disciplined.

Disclaimer: The diet and workout routines shared by the respondents may or may not be approved by diet and fitness experts. GQ India doesn't encourage or endorse the weight loss tips & tricks shared by the person in the article. Please consult an authorised medical professional before following any specific diet or workout routine mentioned above.

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This time of year can be a trigger for many women to want to lose weight (hello, New Year's resolutions). It's exhausting, isn't it? If the idea of restrictive diets and unsustainable workout schedules makes you cringe, there is a solution: intuitive eating. It's a way of eating that makes you give up diets forever and encourages you to listen to your body, eat the foods you love, and not obsess over calories and carbs. With intuitive eating, you'll have a healthy relationship with food and freedom and peace from the pressures food and dieting may have put on you in the past. Sounds amazing, doesn't it?

Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN, an anti-diet registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and host of the Food Psych Podcast, knows that giving up years or maybe even decades of dieting can feel overwhelming. Here are the steps she recommends to start intuitive eating.

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