By Chioma Umeha
Are you exhausted at home or stressed at work with
little or nothing to do during the raining season? You are not alone. This is
the plight of many people in this country and across where adverse weather
conditions affect one’s movement. Under such adverse weather condition, there
is a tendency that you would add up a few pounds or kilograms.
Many would end up with a little bulging either at
the hip or around the tummy. This is particularly so if you are among those
with a genetic make up which allows you retain more calories than you exhaust.
Sorry to tell you that, you are out of luck.
Unfortunately, the rainy season brings with it
other draw backs other than flooded roads and constant power outage. The cold
weather may also influence your moods.
Research has also shown that what you eat may
determine your mood; so your mood can be influenced by your eating habit.
Similarly, lack of activity creates a vacuum, which many people opt to use food
to fill. However, foods like sweet potatoes and walnut can lift your mood. It
doesn’t mean that you should load up on sweet potatoes and walnut or consume
far less calories in order to maintain a quality lifestyle. Moderation is the
key to everything you do. Generally, activities of many people get reduced in
rainy weather, while calorie intake remains unchanged. In other words, whenever
your food intake doesn’t commensurate with your caloric ‘expenditure,’ that
leftover would be stored in your body as fat.
Now, the question is, what steps can one take to
avoid excessive accumulation of fat during this rainy season? Here are some
tips that may help you get your body to be the envy of your friends.
Modify your eating habits
This is where many of our defeats occur, and it
requires the change in our psyche regarding food consumption. Often, we eat
food because we think it is the essence of living, not for nourishment. Think
of the food that you eat as a fuel in a car. You wouldn’t fill up your car with
fuel and abandon it in the driveway.
A vehicle filled with fuel must have an intended
task to accomplish, likewise your body. It is the vehicle that conveys your
soul and spirit.
Also, you should be mindful that once your body
stores carbohydrate as fat, it is hard to get rid of. Consequently, your goal
should be to maintain a five per cent reduction on your carbohydrates, protein
and fat, and if anything, you should consider the consumption of leafy food
like salad and vegetables with an increase in water intake.
Firing all cylinders
Exercise is the most important thing that can have
all the neurons in your body fired up. However, it doesn’t require you to be a
fitness fanatic to score a considerable measurable result.
For instance, a 30-40minute of brisk walking or
jogging up and down your one-story staircase can be just as effective as, or
better than your traditional treadmill.
If you doubt this, measure your heart rate during
the performance of each activity and you will discover that your staircase
exercise ranks higher.
And this actually translates to good metabolic
rate with a sustainable caloric expenditure.
This is not the only exercise programme that could
have physiological changes to your body. Any activity, which would tax your
body beyond the level of your daily energy to exhaustion, can have the same
effect.
This explains the difference between physiology of
a man/woman whose job involves push, pull and lift, and one behind the desk.
