nutrition

How to Overcome Emotional & Stress Eating

Emotional & Stress Eating: Causes & Solutions

August 22, 2022

The modern world as we know it can be quite tolling on our mental health. And this can lead to all sorts of mental health issues like stress and anxiety. However, the issues don\’t stop there since mental health issues can lead to further health issues because of things like stress eating. If you are hearing about stress eating or emotional eating for the first time, then you are definitely at the right place! We will be going through all the important details regarding emotional eating and learning everything about it. More importantly, you can learn about the symptoms of stress eating and how you can overcome emotional eating with simple lifestyle changes. What is Stress Eating or Emotional Eating? When people turn to food to pacify themselves in a state of emotional imbalance, we call it emotional eating. Emotional eating is associated with mindless eating without being actually hungry. Although, if you’re an emotional eater, you might think you’re hungry when you’re stressed out. But, there is a difference between feeling hungry because of stress and being physically hungry. Actual Hunger vs Emotional Hunger To better understand emotional eating, let\’s learn about the differences between actual hunger and emotional hunger which leads to emotional or stress eating: Emotional hunger feels more like a sudden craving, whereas physical hunger comes gradually. If you are emotional eating, you will end up binge eating without minding the food quantities. For example, you may eat a whole bag of chips or a whole tub of ice cream without realizing how much you are eating. Emotional hunger comes after an emotional trigger and physical hunger generally takes place around your usual meal timings. While emotional hunger will be satisfied after eating a lot of food or feeling mentally better, physical hunger will be satisfied by eating just as per your usual appetite. Emotional hunger makes you turn to your favorite comfort food only and you will be eating particular food items. On the other hand, you will be open to more options if you are feeling physical hunger. Even if you end up eating a lot of food due to physical hunger, you won\’t feel guilty afterward. On the other hand, emotional hunger will definitely make you feel bad about binge eating. Whenever you are physically hungry, you will feel the effects of it in your stomach due to a growling sensation or something similar. However, emotional hunger is all in your mind and it is more of a thought than a feeling in your stomach. Symptoms of Stress Eating While there are various scenarios that can lead up to stress eating, the overall symptoms or reasons leading to emotional eating will be usually similar. Even if you recently had lunch or dinner, you may end up getting stressed due to work, studies, personal issues, or any other thing going on in your life. And if any of these factors make you crave eating snacks, then it is definitely a symptom of stress eating. While it is fairly normal to face such an experience once in a while, depending on food to overcome mental stress and agitation on a regular basis is definitely a matter of concern. Stress Eating is More Dangerous than you Think Now that you know more about emotional & stress eating, let\’s learn more about the dangers and effects of emotional eating: Weight Gain Relying on food to temporarily improve your mental health will make you eat much more food than required. Hence, it can result in serious weight gain issues over time. Lifestyle Diseases Since stress eating generally makes you eat comfort food including junk food and processed food items, it can lead to various lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart problems, and much more. Economical Effects Apart from its effects on your physical health, eating a lot of food due to stress and anxiety can also have economical effects since you may end up spending a lot on food that you generally wouldn\’t eat. Mental Toll Even though you are opting for stress eating to overcome mental stress, emotional eating itself will also lead to a mental toll. If you are stress-eating on a regular basis, you will eventually start feeling guilty for the same which can make you further stressed about your health. Why do People Turn to Stress Eating? There can be multiple possible reasons leading to emotional eating including financial stress, relationship stress, work-related stress, and so on. Stressing out creates a sense of emotional vacuum in the mind. Because of this, people turn to stress eating as a way to overcome the stress in their daily lives. Eating food will make you feel psychologically full, thereby creating an illusion of filling any emotional void. These cravings are mostly for comfort food and fast food items that act as a dopamine hit and make you feel better. This is obviously a temporary relief because the hunger is for emotional fullness, not physical. And as discussed earlier, this dopamine hit comes at the cost of all kinds of health effects. Identifying Emotional Triggers Leading to Stress Eating: If you are struggling with emotional eating, then there are definitely some emotional triggers that make you do so. And if you want to overcome stress eating or emotional eating, identifying these triggers is highly important. Some common emotional triggers leading to stress eating include: Daily Life Stress As mentioned earlier, stress from various events in your daily life is one of the biggest emotional triggers of stress eating. Behavioral Habits For some, eating habits can be carried from their childhood to their adulthood. This simply means that if your parents rewarded you with food while feeling low, then you may build up a habit of the same. Social Gatherings While hanging out with friends is definitely great to reduce stress, people tend to hang out at restaurants and cafes. Hence, you may end up binge eating or stress eating in the name of a

Emotional & Stress Eating: Causes & Solutions Read More »

How to Improve Gut Health?

May 10, 2022

You might have heard about gut health a lot lately. Do you know if your gut is healthy? Your gut is an important part of your body. Keeping your gut healthy will help your body to stay healthier overall and lead a better and quality life. Thus, we are here to help you learn more about the gut, gut functions, poor gut health symptoms, and most importantly, the ways to improve gut health. Keep reading to discover all about your gut! What is the Gut & its Function? The Gut is also commonly known as the digestive system or the Gastrointestinal Tract, that is the GI tract. It is mainly responsible for digestion of the food you eat, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste as required by the body. It is a long tube-like structure present in the body starting from the mouth and ending at the rectum. Your gut consists of a vast variety of bacteria along with a few viruses, parasites, and fungi present mostly in the intestine. They collectively make up the microbiome inside your gut. The microbiome is essential to your body as it helps in the development of the immune system and the synthesis of some vitamins. In fact, your whole body has trillions of bacterias present which help in performing various important functions in your body. If you have a healthy gut and microbiome, it can even help in warding off serious diseases like diabetes, obesity, cancer, depression, etc. A healthy gut maintains a delicate yet proper balance of both good as well as bad bacteria. Both of these types of bacteria are important where an imbalance can lead to health issues of all sorts Importance of Gut Health To understand the role that your gut plays in your overall health, it is important to look at the effects it has on various parts of the body. Below we will discuss how your gut affects some significant functions going on in your body. Unhealthy Gut and Effects on the Body Heart Diseases and Gut Health The bacteria that are present in your gut are responsible for all sorts of functions. Every person has a different environment in the microbiome with different compositions of bacteria. This can depend on the type of food that you eat and your genetics. Hence, research has found that your gut health can help in identifying the risk of heart attacks or strokes. These heart diseases happen due to the formation of a compound called TMAO or Trimethylamine N-oxide. Your gut bacteria form TMAO from food items like eggs and red meat. And elevated levels of TMAO can result in hardening of the arteries causing heart attacks and strokes. Therefore, a healthy microbiome is highly beneficial for your heart health. Kidney Health and Gut Health TMAO can also cause chronic kidney diseases which can further change the composition of your gut microbiome. This can lead to the overgrowth of bad bacteria resulting in the breaking of the intestinal walls. If your intestinal walls break, the bacteria can go out of the intestinal area which is known as a leaky gut causing more inflammation in the kidneys. Thus, to keep your kidneys healthy and functioning well, it is highly important to have a healthy gut. Skin and Gut Health If you have a leaky gut, then it can even lead to inflammations in your skin as well. These inflammations can lead to different skin problems like acne vulgaris and psoriasis. In other words, having a healthy gut is vital if you want healthy and glowing skin. Immune System and Gut Health The microbiome plays a highly crucial role in the functioning of your immune system. The bacteria of your microbiome prevent any external toxins to invade the body. More importantly, having a healthy gut ensures that the bad bacteria in your gut don\’t attack your own body cells which effectively assists the immune system. In other words, poor gut health can lead to a rise in autoimmune conditions in the body. Gut Health and the Brain Your gut and the brain are interrelated to each other as well. Both your gut and brain are interconnected to each other where your gut health will affect how your brain functions and vice versa. The gut is directly connected to the brain through millions of nerves. In fact, your gut even produces several chemicals like serotonin and dopamine which affect the functioning of your brain. Due to the presence of a large number of nerves and neurotransmitter chemicals in your gut, which is similar to the central nervous system, the gut is also known as the second brain. A third connection between the gut and the brain is through the immune system of your body. When the gut is in an unhealthy state it increases inflammation in the body because of a leaky gut. This can lead to a few brain disorders like Parkinson\’s, Alzheimer\’s, autism, etc. Gut Health and Mental Health In recent times, people have started focusing on their mental health which has brought a lot of major mental health issues into the limelight. And as we are talking about the gut-brain connection, it is important to go through the effects of gut health on your mental health as well. The inflammation from the gut can lead to disruptions in the chemicals released to the brain. This can lead to mental illnesses such as stress, anxiety, and depression. And this in turn affects the gut by creating issues in digestion like feeling gassy and uneasy in the stomach while being stressed. While research is still being done about this gut health and mental health connection, there are still a few ways to overcome issues like this. You can consider practicing meditation or any other form of relaxation technique as a healthy mind leads to a healthy body and a healthy gut. How to Check your Gut Health? Since you now know the importance of gut health, you might also want

How to Improve Gut Health? Read More »

What is Hidden Hunger & How to Overcome?

May 5, 2022

It’s difficult to imagine what could go wrong even when you are eating and exercising right. One common issue that people face despite eating right is \”hidden hunger.\” And if you have never heard about it in the past, you might be wondering what is hidden hunger? In short, even when you are taking care of the number of calories you are consuming, it is still possible to miss out on consuming adequate nutrients for your body. In this article, we will explore more about hidden hunger and the various measures that can be taken in order to avoid it. What is Hidden Hunger? Hidden hunger occurs when your body is deficient in certain micronutrients even after getting appropriate calorie-rich food. While you may be eating enough calories throughout the day, you might not be getting all the micronutrients that you need. These deficiencies can lead to serious health problems if you don\’t work on hidden hunger. Hidden hunger is known as hidden because it doesn’t actually make you hungry. In fact, you might not even notice nutrition deficiency for some time. But, the long-term effects of a lack of micronutrients can create serious health issues and cause irreversible effects on your health. Role of Micronutrients The human body works by an amalgamation of complex processes and it needs a variety of nutrients to sustain its proper functioning. Nutrients majorly consist of two parts known as macronutrients and micronutrients. We will focus on the importance of micronutrients here in this article. Micronutrients consist of vitamins and minerals. Most of these nutrients are present in the food you eat since your body requires them only in smaller quantities. Therefore, it is highly important to consume nutrition-rich food in order to get all the essential micronutrients. Functions of Different Micronutrients There are a lot of micronutrients that your body needs from time to time to perform the necessary bodily functions. While all of them are equally important, some nutrient deficiencies are very rare in the common population. Hence, we will look at the most common and significant micronutrients and their functions to understand their importance in the body. Vitamin A: Helps in good vision, growth, cell division, and reproduction. Sources of food include eggs, cheese, spinach, broccoli, fish, etc. Vitamin D: Helps in proper absorption of calcium, providing immunity from certain diseases, and health of bones and teeth. Sources of food include oily fish, egg yolks, fortified foods, mushrooms, etc. However, only food sources are not enough to get adequate Vitamin D for the body. Sunlight is the best source for getting enough sunlight, so try to get outdoors often and simultaneously make sure to not overexpose yourself to the harmful UV rays of the sun. Calcium: Helps in maintaining healthy bones, blood clotting, and regulating muscle contractions and nerve processes. Sources of food include green leafy vegetables, chia seeds, yogurt, lentils, beans, etc. Iodine: Helps in regulating the function of the thyroid hormone, and brain development during pregnancy. Sources of food include seaweed, iodized salt, dairy, eggs, tuna, etc Zinc: Helps in cell division, growth, healing of wounds, and other nerve functions. Sources of food include legumes, shellfish, seeds like hemp, flax, pumpkin, whole grains, etc. Iron: Helps in creating hemoglobin, regulating hormones, and providing oxygen to different parts of the body. Sources of food include beans, lentils, fortified cereals, spinach, nuts, etc. Why is Hidden Hunger a Serious Issue? Around 2 billion people worldwide are affected by micronutrient deficiency and the majority are children. And yet, most people are not making any efforts towards improving micronutrient deficiency. In fact, hidden hunger not only affects the malnourished but even the obese. As you can guess by now, hidden hunger isn’t noticeable in a short period of time which makes it an even bigger issue. Instead, you may get to know about hidden hunger only when it leads to serious health conditions that can have adverse effects and might even lead to death in some cases. One thing to keep in mind is that overdosage of some micronutrients can also be hazardous to one\’s health. Symptoms of Hidden Hunger Although there are times when a deficiency may go unnoticed, there can be instances where people experience some symptoms related to a certain micronutrient deficiency. We have already discussed some of the common deficiencies that people tend to face. And here, we will look at the symptoms which can indicate which nutrients you should be focusing on: Symptoms of Vitamin A Deficiency Night blindness, stunted growth, skin irritation, frequent infections, fertility issues, and hair loss. Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency Increased risk of heart diseases, fatigue or tiredness, low immunity, bones and back pain, and bone loss. Symptoms of Calcium Deficiency Low bone density, muscle ache, and fatigue. Symptoms of Iodine Deficiency Hypothyroidism, goiter, cognitive problems, and heart-related issues. Symptoms of Zinc Deficiency Low immunity, loss of appetite, hair loss, diarrhea, and decrease in sense of taste and smell. Symptoms of Iron Deficiency Pale skin, cold hands and feet, weakness or dizziness, brittle nails, chest pain, and shortness of breath. These are just some of the symptoms that people face when they are facing micronutrient deficiencies. Make sure to consult your doctor before coming to any conclusion about your health. Causes of Hidden Hunger The above symptoms can lead to dangerous results over a longer period of time if not taken care of. Hence, it is important to know causes of hidden hunger and make amends to improve quality of life. Below you will find the common causes that lead to the deficiency of micronutrients and hidden hunger: Poor Diet: A diet is considered poor when it lacks food sources of essential nutrients required for the body. You might get certain micronutrient deficiencies if your diet primarily consists of staple food like rice, maize, wheat, etc. Inadequate Absorption of Nutrients: Even if you are consuming the proper dosage of the essential nutrients it is possible that your body is not absorbing them adequately.

What is Hidden Hunger & How to Overcome? Read More »

Remedies To Prevent Hair Fall and Damage

April 10, 2022

You might have been at a point at least once in your life where you started losing too much hair. And you might be wondering where you might be going wrong with your hair health. Maybe you are even going through that experience currently. Have you also tried every trending natural remedy and still got no results except for making hair smell bad? Then, we are with some of the best remedies to prevent hair fall and damage quite easily! This article will help you in learning about hair in detail and different factors that affect them and tips to prevent damage. What is Hair: Understanding Hair Better First, let’s go through the basics of hair. Hair is nothing but a form of a protein called keratin. It is a part of the Integumentary system, one of the 11 organ systems of your body. There are three layers of skin called epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. Hair follicles which are the bottom part of the hair strand come in the dermis which is just below the epidermis. These connect the hair to the skin. Each hair strand goes through a cycle of four stages which are explained below. Cycles of Hair Anagen (growth phase): This is the active phase where the hair is formed. Catagen (transitional phase): In this phase, the growth stops and becomes detached from the base of the follicles. Telogen (resting phase): Here, the hair is not growing anymore and is on the verge of shedding. Exogen: This is the phase where you shed the hair and it is considered normal. Most of the time you have a new hair strand coming in its place. Each hair strand goes through these four phases at different points of time and hence, it is normal to shed 50-100 strands in a day. So, losing some hair on a daily basis is fine, what’s not fine is losing hair in clusters. Hair Fall v/s Hair Loss You might have used these two terms interchangeably sometimes but they both mean different things. Hair Fall is just the shedding of hair at a normal rate. There might be a slight increase in hair shedding but it still won’t decrease your hair volume suddenly. On the other hand, hair loss is losing a large volume of your hair, losing patches of hair, or sudden shedding of hair. These can happen due to various factors such as hormonal, environmental, excess stress, or even genetics. Some of the conditions related to hair loss are alopecia, thinning of hair, etc. It’s better to take professional help if you are experiencing hair loss as at an early stage, treatment can be more effective. Role of Nutrition in Hair Growth Nutrition plays a major role in hair growth and the quality of hair that you have. Therefore, lack of proper nutrition can lead to hair fall and damage. Your body needs enough micro and macronutrients to fulfill the necessary functions and help in the proper growth of hair. Vitamin B2 is essential for the health of all tissues, particularly skin, eyes, and nerves. Sources for Vitamin B2 are peas, beans, whole grains, etc. Vitamin B7, which is also known as biotin, is involved in the process of protein synthesis and is necessary for your hair health. It helps to maintain the cognitive functions necessary for healthy hair, skin, and nails. Sources for vitamin B7 are egg yolk, soy, cereals, nuts, legumes, milk, etc. Causes of Hair Fall There can be factors that can trigger hair fall and make it severe. These causes are the ones seen normally and are reversible with proper measures, it is possible to have hair fall as a symptom of some other medical condition. Therefore, It\’s better to consult a dermatologist in severe cases. Excessive Stress: Too much stress can harm your body in various ways and hair fall is one of the results. Stress can push your hair follicles into the resting phase hindering the growth phase. Improper Sleep: Disturbed or inadequate sleep can increase your stress levels which will result in hair fall. Vitamin B2 Deficiency: You need the proper amount of this vitamin for the good health of your hair. Vitamin B7 Deficiency: Its deficiency can cause hair loss hence, it is important to take your daily recommended amount. Although, its deficiency is rare as mostly it is found in protein sources. Protein Deficiency: Sometimes, people get on fad diets leading to a deficiency of nutrients including protein, and protein is essential for various functions in the body. Hence, make sure you are getting enough protein. Low-calorie Diet: A low-calorie diet with insufficient nutrients will hinder the growth of your hair and hair fall happens as a side effect. Selenium Deficiency: Selenium is a mineral that helps in important bodily functions and its deficiency can lead to hair loss. Sources of selenium are rice, whole wheat bread, eggs, etc. Extremely Hot Water: Hot water showers can damage your hair and scalp so it is advisable to wash your hair in lukewarm or cold water. Daily Hair Care: Not washing your hair properly and removing shampoo completely can also lead to issues with the scalp. This is due to the reason that accumulated shampoo might hinder the process of hair growth. Tips to Prevent Hair Fall Now, hair fall mostly is preventable and thus here we are providing you with some tips and measures to take care of your hair and have healthy and beautiful hair. Nutrition In the above paragraphs, we discussed the role of nutrition in your hair health which included the most important nutrients for your hair. Coming up you will see what all other nutrients contribute to good hair health. Vitamin A: It helps in the growth of hair and moisturizes the scalp. Sources are leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, eggs, etc. Vitamin D: It can help in preventing hair fall by not letting a hair fall out prematurely. Sources are eggs, butter, cream, salmon, sunlight, etc. Omega-3 Fatty Acids: It

Remedies To Prevent Hair Fall and Damage Read More »

Calorie Deficit : Everything You Need To Know

April 2, 2022

Do you get confused about what exactly is a calorie deficit every time someone mentions weight loss and why do you need to be in it to lose weight? Nowadays, calorie deficit diets are trending everywhere but it is still a complex concept to understand. And so, we are here to help you in understanding everything about calorie deficit diets! In this article, you will learn what a calorie deficit is and the different factors that are important to get into a calorie deficit and achieve your dream body. What is a Calorie? To better understand calorie deficit and calorie deficit diets, you must first be familiar with the term calorie. Every cell of your body requires energy in order to perform its functions effectively. Hence, a calorie is a unit that is there to measure energy. To be more exact, a calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water from 0 to 1 degree Celsius. For example, 1 gram of carbohydrate is equal to 4 calories. Every food item has some calories but the difference is whether it has any nutritional value or not. The calories present in junk food are empty calories because they do not contain any nutritional value. What is Calorie Deficit? If you are on a weight loss or fat loss journey, then you would have certainly heard about a calorie deficit diet. When you consume fewer calories than your body burns during the whole day, it\’s called being in a calorie deficit. Creating a calorie deficit helps in aiding weight loss, hence it is a crucial thing to do if you want to lose weight or fat. For example, if your daily calorie requirement is 2000 Kcal where you consume1800 Kcal a day depending on your goals. Doing this will create a deficit of 200 Kcal. Now, in order to dig deeper into this topic, you will have to be familiar with the concept of TDEE. TDEE TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. As the name suggests, it is the total energy you need to consume in terms of calories from food to perform your daily bodily functions. This includes body functions such as breathing, digestion, and others even while being at rest. TDEE also considers the extra activity you perform throughout the day. It includes physical activity like exercising, walking, daily chores, and more. To better understand TDEE, let’s look at the different components required to calculate it. BMR: It stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the rate at which your body burns calories to keep the body functioning at rest. It accounts for about 60-70% of the daily calories burned. TEF: It stands for Thermic Effect of Food. It is the energy which is there to digest and process different macronutrients in your diet. TEF can vary from person to person based on the amount of macronutrients consumed. While TEF is different for different macronutrients, the most common estimate for TEF is around 10% of your total calorie intake. TEA: It stands for Thermic Effect of Activity. It is the measure of how many calories you will burn during your training and workouts, or any other extra physical activity that you do on a daily basis. How to Calculate Calorie Deficit? When you calculate your calorie deficit, you have to first calculate your TDEE which includes multiple components. And then, you can create a deficit according to how much you think should be the ideal deficit according to your goals. It\’s better not to go above a deficit of 25-30% generally in order to stay in a healthy deficit. Let’s have a look at the formulas that can be used to calculate the BMR, TEF, TEA, and finally TDEE. BMR For Men: BMR = 10*weight (Kg) + 6.25*height (cm) – 5*age (years) + 5 For Women: BMR = 10*weight (Kg) + 6.25*height (cm) – 5*age (years) – 161 TEF As explained earlier, it is around 10% of your total calorie intake. TEA The thermic effect of activity depends on the intensity of training you are involved in. So, the formulas are also modified according to the different levels of activities: Sedentary: if you have little or no exercise may be because of a desk job, then TEA=BMR*1.2 Lightly Active: Light exercise or playing sports 1-3 days per week, then TEA=BMR*1.375 Moderately Active: Moderate exercise or playing sports 3-5 days per week, then TEA=BMR*1.55 Very Active: Intense exercise or playing sports 6-7 days per week, then TEA=BMR*1.725 Extra Active: Highly intense exercise, training twice a day, playing sports, or having a physical job daily, then TEA=BMR*1.9 TDEE After using all of the above formulas you are ready to calculate your TDEE, which is as follows: TDEE = BMR + TEF + TEA This is the formula used to determine a person’s daily energy expenditure and a calorie deficit can be created using this. Although, these are not the only things a nutrition coach keeps in mind while devising a plan. They take many more factors into account while planning your meals in a way that you get proper nutrition while having fewer calories. Factors Affecting Calorie Requirement By now, you would have guessed that there is no \”one size fits all\” criteria for a calorie deficit. You can’t go into the same deficit as someone else because everyone has different bodies. As for the factors that can affect a person’s calorie requirement, you need to consider the following to calculate a calorie deficit: Age: As a person’s age increases, their calorie requirement decreases. Sex: Males naturally have a higher calorie requirement than females. Hence, their deficits are different. Height: Height has a direct impact on a person\’s BMR, and the higher the BMR, the higher is the calorie requirement. Thus, it is an important factor while creating a deficit. Weight: Similar to a person\’s height, their weight is also a direct factor of BMR. Hence, it also affects a person’s calorie requirement. Metabolism:

Calorie Deficit : Everything You Need To Know Read More »

Emotional & Stress Eating: Causes & Solutions

How to Improve Gut Health?

What is Hidden Hunger & How to Overcome?

Remedies To Prevent Hair Fall and Damage

Calorie Deficit : Everything You Need To Know

Join Our Journey