The trend for fitness and healthy living is growing at an escalating rate in Sri Lanka at the moment. Historically, Sri Lankans are known to be fit and strong because of the food we traditionally consume and because of the lifestyle we follow. But over the years, things have gradually changed and the advent of international food chains (fast food) have conquered us and we have started to change our lifestyles according to it. In addition to this, we have adopted a more physically relaxing routine where we have become stagnated in our own office chair and have become rather lethargic.
Time to change it Sri Lanka!
Alot of our fellow Sri Lankans sport a huge belly and muffin tops especially the people who does desk work. Our most common excuse is, “How can we catch time for a workout?” or “It’s easy to eat something from a fast food stop than making food at home”. Those are few of the common recurring excuses that come up from time to time. It’s the getaway answer and like it or not, at the same time we say “Hello” to all the health issues. This is why we must ensure that we allocate at least 1 hour from our daily schedule. This is why we must eat clean because at the end of the day, we are doing it for us.
Eat Clean, Always!
Before you start any fitness activity, eating healthy plays a huge role. They say it’s 30% Workouts and 70% Diet. This has a truth behind it.
In Sri Lanka, it’s difficult to go for a calorie counting practice as most of the food doesn’t come with the nutrition facts. But controlling the quantities of food is a must.
In Sri Lanka, we have a wide variety of foods which provides an array of health benefits. Especially from the organic food items which is found all over Sri Lanka. It’s a matter of thinking twice and replacing the food we typically consume with healthy food.
Simple things that won’t cost you a thing but in-return will help you to be energized.
For an example-
- Drink a lot of water. Water doesn’t have calories! Water does have many benefits!
- Red rice as a substance for white rice.
- Adding more food with proteins such as dhaal, soya beans, meat, fish to your daily intakes
- Adding greens to your food which gives many benefits.
- Avoid bread which is full of carbs.
- Avoid deep fried food.
- Avoid processed meat.
- Control your liquor intake. It’s preferable if you can stop altogether.
- Avoid saturated fats as much as you can.
- Fizzy drinks just adds calories to our body and are extremely high in sugar. Avoid it like the plague!
The list goes on and on, but for starters we all could adhere to these few tips.
This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a comfort food once in a while. Yes you can. But always remember, if you eat, you must burn. It’s always better to have an idea about the number of calories the standard food contains. So you automatically start thinking of ways to avoid unhealthy food.
One thing you can assure is when you start eating in a healthy way, you will feel a sense of immense lightness in your body. When you consume the right amount of proteins for your breakfast and your lunch, you will not feel hungry in between the meals and especially during the night.
Good food habits will drive you towards a healthy lifestyle. It’s the starting point of your Fitness Journey. When you think about achieving a chiseled mid-section, you are skipping one major point; the food. A lot of health problems such as Diabetes, Cholesterol and Obesity exist because we eat the wrong food and we don’t think when we eat.
Try it once and then your mindset will be changed, your lifestyle will be changed! In a positive way for a positive future.
Written By – Shehan Perera.
