WHEN we have had lots of hot, humid weather, we start to feel tired and sleepy and there is a great temptation to keep going by grabbing a cup of coffee. Mid-morning, feeling tired — time for a cup of coffee and a chocolate bar to keep us going — and so it goes on. If you can identify with this pattern of behavior, you are by no means alone. Probably 80 percent of the population crawl out of bed in the morning and gulp down a cup of coffee or tea before dashing off to work or getting the children off to school. While one cup of coffee can seem like the perfect pick-me-up, six cups a day can signal that you are spiraling into caffeine dependency.
So let’s look at drinking for energy. Experts recommend 2 liters of water a day to help clean out toxins and keep our bodies in tip-top condition. Try a glass of hot water with lemon or lime juice in it first thing in the morning. It really makes your mouth feel clean and refreshed. Try to cut down on tea and coffee. Treat coffee as a luxury and only have one cup a day, limiting it to the morning before 12 noon. Cut down on tea and have no more than two cups a day. Some cans of cola contain up to seven teaspoons of sugar. If you are one of those people who can’t work without a mug of something in front of them, try some herbal tea.
Recipe of the week
Stir-fried shredded beef with ginger
Serves: 6
Ingredients
500g-rump steak, shredded
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
8 pieces root ginger, shredded
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 spring onions, shredded
shredded root ginger and spring onion to garnish
Method
Sprinkle the steak with salt. Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan, add the garlic and fry quickly until browned. Add the meat and ginger and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and cook for one minute. Stir in the spring onions. Spoon onto a warmed serving dish and sprinkle with the ginger and spring onions. Serve immediately.
Ask Alva
I am 35 years old and my weight is 92 kg. I exercise regularly 6 days a week. (30 minutes cycling, 25 minutes treadmill and some stretches trained by the coach). I work out for a minimum of an hour everyday but all in vain for I have not lost that much weight. I don’t eat sugar or any ice creams for more than a year. I was on diet for year and I was fed up recently I am having my regular food. Please tell me why I am not losing weight. Sylvia
I often receive letters like yours, and I know that it is sometimes very difficult to lose weight, even when you are trying very hard. But you have to stop and ask yourself why you find it so hard.
First off, calorie-controlled diets are not good for you. When you go on a low calorie diet, you put your body into a state of distress, and although you might lose weight at the time, the body has a natural reaction after you start eating normally again. The body just takes back what it has lost, and the end result for many people is that they put the weight back on, and sometimes more. You say you are having your regular food, and this is probably the problem. Also, do you snack? You need to answer these questions to yourself honestly. Face the fact that if your energy input from food is more than your body is able to burn off, either through exercise or just in doing the things you do every day, then the surplus will be stored in the body as fat. To put it simply — if you eat more than you need, you get fat!
It’s also good that you exercise for an hour every day. But you should know that 25 minutes on the treadmill will only burn off around 250 calories, so exercise alone is not going to solve your problem. Think about it — just a regular hamburger contains 250 calories!
So you need to look at eating smart and learn to change your eating habits. Start by sending for a copy of my healthy eating guide e-mail: [email protected].
