अस्वास्थ्यकर खाद्य क्या है?
‘जंक फ़ूड’ ऐसे खाद्य पदार्थ हैं जिनमें पोषक तत्वों, विटामिन और खनिजों की कमी होती है, और किलोजूल (ऊर्जा), नमक, शर्करा और वसा की मात्रा अधिक होती है। इसे जंक फ़ूड इसलिए कहा जाता है क्योंकि यह स्वस्थ भोजन में कोई भूमिका नहीं निभाता है, खासकर यदि इसे अधिक मात्रा में खाया जाए।

Junk foods’ are foods that lack nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and are high in kilojoules (energy), salts, sugars, and fats. Junk food is so called because it doesn’t play a role in healthy eating, especially if it’s eaten to excess.

जंक फूड को विवेकाधीन भोजन या वैकल्पिक भोजन के रूप में भी जाना जाता है।
जंक फूड के कुछ उदाहरणों में शामिल हैं:
केक और बिस्कुट
फास्ट फूड (जैसे गर्म चिप्स, बर्गर और पिज्जा)
चॉकलेट और मिठाई
प्रसंस्कृत मांस (जैसे बेकन)
स्नैक्स (जैसे चिप्स)
शर्करा युक्त पेय (जैसे खेल, ऊर्जा और शीतल पेय)
मादक पेय
यदि आपके आहार में वसा, नमक और चीनी की मात्रा अधिक है और आपको आवश्यक पोषक तत्व नहीं मिल रहे हैं, तो मोटापा और अन्य पुरानी (दीर्घकालिक) बीमारियों का खतरा बढ़ सकता है।
इन बीमारियों में शामिल हैं:
हृदवाहिनी रोग
मधुमेह प्रकार 2
गैर अल्कोहल वसा यकृत रोग
अनेक प्रकार के कैंसर
हालांकि जंक फूड के स्वस्थ विकल्प ढूंढना कभी-कभी मुश्किल हो सकता है, हेल्थ स्टार रेटिंग प्रणाली यह निर्धारित करने में आपकी मदद करने के लिए एक सुविधाजनक उपकरण है कि कोई उत्पाद कितना स्वस्थ है। यह समान पैकेज्ड खाद्य पदार्थों की तुलना करने का एक त्वरित और आसान तरीका प्रदान करता है।
पैकेज्ड खाद्य पदार्थों को इस आधार पर आधा स्टार और 5 स्टार के बीच रेटिंग दी जाती है कि वे कितने स्वस्थ हैं। ये रेटिंग पैकेज्ड वस्तुओं के सामने पाई जाती हैं। हालाँकि, यह ध्यान रखना महत्वपूर्ण है कि यह प्रणाली बहुत सामान्यीकृत है और कुछ उत्पादों का पोषण मूल्य उन्हें प्राप्त रेटिंग के माध्यम से सटीक रूप से व्यक्त नहीं किया जा सकता है।
यह भी याद रखें कि हेल्थ स्टार रेटिंग प्रणाली केवल दुकानों में बेचे जाने वाले पैकेज्ड उत्पादों के लिए डिज़ाइन की गई है, इसलिए इसमें कुछ स्वस्थ खाद्य पदार्थ शामिल नहीं होंगे – जिनमें ताजा अनपैक्ड भोजन जैसे फल और सब्जियां शामिल हैं।
मैं स्वस्थ भोजन का चुनाव कैसे करूँ?
आप जो भोजन खरीद रहे हैं उसके पोषण मूल्य को समझना महत्वपूर्ण है। आप सभी पैक किए गए खाद्य पदार्थों के पीछे पाए जाने वाले पोषण पैनल को पढ़कर ऐसा कर सकते हैं। खाद्य लेबल आपको प्रत्येक उत्पाद में ऊर्जा (किलोजूल), प्रोटीन, वसा, कार्बोहाइड्रेट, शर्करा, फाइबर और सोडियम की मात्रा के साथ-साथ अनुशंसित सर्विंग आकार जैसी चीजें बता सकते हैं।
किसी उत्पाद के पोषण मूल्य का मूल्यांकन करते समय, सुनिश्चित करें कि आप ‘कम वसा’ या ‘चीनी मुक्त’ जैसे स्वास्थ्य दावों की दोबारा जांच करें, क्योंकि ये भ्रामक हो सकते हैं। जब किसी उत्पाद को ‘लाइट’ या ‘लाइट’ के रूप में विज्ञापित किया जाता है, तो यह केवल उत्पाद के रंग या स्वाद को संदर्भित कर सकता है। इसका मतलब है कि उत्पाद अभी भी ‘पूर्ण वसा’ हो सकता है – वास्तविक वसा सामग्री के लिए पैकेज के पीछे पोषण सूचना पैनल की जांच करना सुनिश्चित करें।
एक और आम दावा यह है कि कोई उत्पाद ‘चीनी-मुक्त’ है या इसमें ‘कोई अतिरिक्त चीनी नहीं’ है। सच में, इसका मतलब यह है कि किसी उत्पाद में कोई अतिरिक्त सुक्रोज या टेबल शुगर नहीं है, लेकिन इसमें अभी भी अन्य प्रकार की चीनी हो सकती है। उत्पाद में नमक या वसा भी हो सकता है और किलोजूल की मात्रा अधिक हो सकती है, इसलिए चीनी मुक्त उत्पाद भी जंक फूड हो सकते हैं।
यह भी ध्यान दें कि ‘स्वास्थ्य खाद्य पदार्थ’ के रूप में जाने जाने वाले उत्पाद जैसे कि कुछ फलों के रस और मूसली बार वास्तव में जंक फूड हो सकते हैं यदि उनमें चीनी, नमक या वसा का उच्च स्तर होता है। उत्पाद कितना स्वस्थ है, इसके बेहतर संकेत के लिए उत्पाद की हेल्थ स्टार रेटिंग की जाँच करें। ध्यान रखें कि यह रेटिंग प्रणाली सटीकता में सीमित है, लेकिन विज्ञापित दावों की तुलना में बेहतर मार्गदर्शक हो सकती है।
क्या मैं स्वस्थ आहार में थोड़ी मात्रा में जंक फूड शामिल कर सकता हूँ?
हां, स्वस्थ, संतुलित आहार में थोड़ी मात्रा में जंक या विवेकाधीन भोजन शामिल किया जा सकता है। इसका मतलब है कि आपको कभी-कभार ही जंक फूड खाना चाहिए। अतिरिक्त ऊर्जा को जलाने में मदद के लिए अधिक व्यायाम के साथ अपने जंक फूड सेवन को संतुलित करना महत्वपूर्ण है। इससे आपको अत्यधिक वजन बढ़ने से बचने में मदद मिलेगी।
यदि आप छोटे, छोटे, अधिक वजन वाले हैं या बहुत अधिक शारीरिक गतिविधि में भाग नहीं लेते हैं, तो जंक फूड का आपके आहार में कोई स्थान नहीं हो सकता है – या कम से कम आपके द्वारा उपभोग की जाने वाली मात्रा को कम करने की आवश्यकता हो सकती है। यदि आप अपना वजन कम करने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं, तो जंक फूड का सेवन कम से कम करें।
यह तय करने में मदद के लिए कि आपको अपने आहार में सुधार करने की आवश्यकता है या नहीं और अपने भोजन और पेय सेवन का मार्गदर्शन करने के लिए आहार संबंधी दिशानिर्देशों की जाँच करें।
मैं अपने द्वारा खाए जाने वाले जंक फूड की मात्रा को कैसे कम कर सकता हूँ?
हालाँकि आपके द्वारा खाए जाने वाले जंक फूड की मात्रा को कम करना चुनौतीपूर्ण हो सकता है, लेकिन जरूरी नहीं कि आपको अपने सभी पसंदीदा खाद्य पदार्थों को छोड़ना पड़े।
यहां स्वस्थ खान-पान की आदतें बनाने के बारे में कुछ सुझाव दिए गए हैं:
अपने भोजन और नाश्ते की योजना पहले से बनाएं ताकि आप यह तय करें कि आप पोषण के आधार पर क्या खाएंगे, न कि इस आधार पर कि आपकी पेंट्री में क्या बचा है। पहले से योजना बनाने से आपको बजट बनाए रखने में भी मदद मिलती है और खरीदारी भी आसान हो जाती है।
साबुत भोजन के विकल्प जैसे कि साबुत भोजन और साबुत अनाज कार्बोहाइड्रेट जैसे पास्ता, ब्रेड और आटा चुनें।
अतिरिक्त नमक, चीनी और संतृप्त वसा से दूर रहने के लिए जंक फूड के बजाय मिठाई के लिए ताजे फल चुनें।
पैकेट के पीछे पोषण संबंधी सूचना पैनल का उपयोग करके अपने भोजन के पोषण मूल्य की जाँच करें।
विज्ञापन ‘ट्रिक्स’ से सावधान रहें, जिसमें यह दावा भी शामिल है कि किसी उत्पाद में ‘कोई अतिरिक्त चीनी नहीं है’, क्योंकि इसमें अभी भी किलोजूल, नमक या वसा की मात्रा अधिक हो सकती है। कोई उत्पाद तब तक ‘वसा कम होने’ का दावा कर सकता है जब तक उसमें उत्पाद के पुराने संस्करण की तुलना में कम वसा हो – लेकिन फिर भी उसमें वसा की मात्रा अधिक हो सकती है।
हेल्थ स्टार रेटिंग का उपयोग करें,समान पैक की गई वस्तुओं की तुलना करने और सबसे स्वास्थ्यप्रद वस्तु चुनने की प्रणाली।

‘ Junk food is also known as discretionary food or optional food.

Some examples of junk food include:

cakes and biscuits
fast foods (such as hot chips, burgers and pizzas)
chocolate and sweets
processed meat (such as bacon)
snacks (such as chips)
sugary drinks (such as sports, energy and soft drinks)
alcoholic drinks
If your diet is high in fats, salt and sugar and is not receiving essential nutrients, your risk of obesity and other chronic (long-term) diseases may well increase.

These diseases include:

cardiovascular disease
type 2 diabetes
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
a number of cancers
While finding healthy alternatives to junk food can sometimes be difficult, the Health Star Rating system is a convenient tool to help you determine how healthy a product is. It provides a quick and easy way to compare similar packaged foods.

Packaged foods are rated between half a star and 5 stars based on how healthy they are. These ratings are found on the front of packaged items. However, it is important to note that this system is very generalised and the nutritional value of some products may not be accurately expressed through the rating they receive.

Remember also that the Health Star Rating system is designed only for packaged products sold in shops, so it won’t include some healthy foods — including fresh unpackaged food such as fruit and vegetables.

How do I make healthy food choices?
It’s important to understand the nutritional value of the food you are buying. You can do this by reading the nutrition panel found on the back of all packaged . Food labels can tell you things like the amount of energy (kilojoules), protein, fat, carbohydrates, sugars, fibre and sodium in each product as well as the recommended serving size.

When assessing a product for its nutritional value, make sure you double-check health claims such as ‘low in fat’ or ‘sugar free’, as these can be misleading. When a product is advertised as ‘light’ or ‘lite’, this may refer only to the product’s colour or flavour. This means that the product may still be ‘full-fat’ — be sure to check the nutrition information panel at the back of the package for the actual fat content.

Another common claim is that a product is ‘sugar-free’ or has ‘no added sugar’. In truth, this means that a product has no added sucrose or table sugar, but it may still contain other types of sugar. The product may also contain salt or fat and may be high in kilojoules, so even sugar free products can be junk foods.

Note also that products known as ‘health foods’ such as some fruit juices and muesli bars can actually be junk food if they contain high levels of sugar, salt or fat. Check a product’s Health Star Rating for a better indication of how healthy the product is. Keep in mind that this rating system is limited in accuracy, but may be a better guide than advertised claims.

Can I include a small amount of junk food in a healthy diet?
Yes, a small amount of junk or discretionary food can be included in a healthy, balanced diet. This means you should only have junk food occasionally. It is important to balance your junk food intake with increased exercise to help burn off extra energy. This will help you avoid gaining excessive weight.

If you are short, small, overweight or don’t participate in a lot of physical activity, junk food may not have a place in your diet — or at least the amount you consume may need to be minimised. If you are trying to lose weight, minimise the amount of junk food you are consuming.

Check the Dietary Guidelines to help you decide whether you need to improve your diet and to guide your food and drink intake.

How can I reduce the amount of junk food I eat?
While it can be challenging to reduce the amount of junk food you eat, you don’t necessarily have to give up on all your favourite foods.

Here are some suggestions on how to create healthy eating habits:

Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time so you decide what you eat based on nutrition, not based on what is left in your pantry. Planning ahead also helps you keep to a budget and makes shopping easier too.
Chose wholefood options such as wholemeal and wholegrain carbohydrates like pasta, bread and flour.
Choose fresh fruit for dessert instead of junk food to keep away from added salt, sugar and saturated fat.
Check your food’s nutritional value using the nutritional information panel on the back of the packet.
Watch out for advertising ‘tricks’, including claims that a product has ‘no added sugar’, since it can still be high in kilojoules, salt or fat. A product can claim to be ‘reduced in fat’ as long as it has less fat than an earlier version of the product — but it may still be high in fat.
Use the Health Star Rating system to compare similar packaged items and choose the healthiest one.

This is specially for all my Creative friends out there. Creatives are known for ideas. We are bustling with ideas, spirituality, we are visionaries, we are sensitive, we are intuitive, we are feelers, we are empaths and most of us love all things beautiful.

And more creative energy is stemming from us, more we are likely to be jumping from one creative project to another, often losing interest in taking care of what seems like ‘mundane’ aspects of a creative project, to the archetype creative person. For example- marketing, drawing other people’s interest in our creative project, the commercial fruition and viable returns through a successfully conceptualized and marketed creative project.

Creative people are bursting with this immense force and creative energy that can quite often take control of their lives, with so many ideas at one time, it can often be exhausting, and we love the ‘process of creation’ itself so much, that we our often hooked on to our next BIG IDEA , before the earlier has even been completed, or in some cases being shared with public

Does this sound familiar to you?

I also realize that this burst of creativity can often make a lot us feel ungrounded, not being rooted in the earthly realities of life, we are flying, taking flights of imaginations and therefore, who cares about all the other boring stuff that makes up our living experience on Planet Earth.

But it is important for us to be aware of the ground realities and be able to participate in our earthly chores, living, dispense our duties and responsibilities towards our family and loved ones and most importantly towards ourselves so we make living a pleasure. When we can combine the two- flights of imagination, creative fulfillment and material and earthly success and grounding, we’ll be able to enjoy this experience even more and perhaps this would enable us to be even more creative drawinf from life on everyday basis, bathing in the warm glow of living and enjoying the fruits of our labor in form of commercial success or earthly recognition. We would feel more at home, in our bodies, literally speaking.

Therefore, its so important for all creative people to be rooted and to be aware of our connections with Mother Earth. We can develop this by walking barefoot on ground or grass. We can do this through focussing on our ROOT CHAKRAS or BASE CHAKRAS and imagine a RED LIGHT stemming from it, going all the way down to Earth and connecting us to it. We can even focus on OUR FEET CHAKRAS ( yeah, we have chakras or energy centers in our feet too) and by placing our feet firmly on terra cotta and taking a few deep breaths and reminding ourselves “WE ARE HERE”. We can even imagine roots growing out of our feet going into mother EARTH. This will further reinstate our earthly connection and give us a sense of stability and walking ahead feeling secure of our earthly existence.

When we learn to get more grounded, we are not going to stifle our creativity by any means, all we are doing, through these little exercises is making ourselves feel more at home, balanced, secure and stable, taking care of our earthly duties and responsibilities, while being creative. This can actually lend our creativity and wisdom a helping hand, and much needed support, as we learn to firmly put our feet on the ground as and when we need to take a break from our flights of imagination to take care of some inevitable ‘ mundane’ affairs.

In Creativity & Wisdom
Mani :

www.facebook.com/Mani-Goel

http://www.mani-healing.com

Have you ever been around someone at work who’s really high strung, stressed out and goes a mile a minute? And have you noticed your energy after being around this person for a while? Maybe after you left the vicinity of this person, you noticed that you were moving at a faster rate and felt anxious.
On the contrary, have you ever been around someone so peaceful and centered that you felt more peaceful and centered? (I feel more centered after just listening to an audio of Eckhart Tolle).
We reflect one anothers energy.
So its important that we project into the world what we want to have as our experience. If we want calm and peace, its important to project that energy.
From the perspective of Eckhart Tolle (Author of Power of Now) if I am reacting to a situation, I am unconscious.And that same unconsciousness is the cause of all violence and suffering.
So when I hear about a negative event on the news, which is the result of unconsciousness, and I react to it by getting all wound up (which is also unconsciousness), I am only adding to the problem .
The change in our world will come from a shift in consciousness (from unconsciousness to consciousness). Lasting, true change will come from a shift in our energy.

   Your thoughts are what have created your reality up until now and what will create your reality for the rest of your earthly existence. You will be astounded, when you start taking notice, of the amount of negative thoughts you have every single hour of the day. What you think about is what you get, whether it is positive or negative. If the universe hears your thoughts of lack, it will make sure you receive more lack, and if it hears your thoughts of abundance, it will make sure you have abundance in your life.
   So take notice of what you are thinking and what your emotions are telling you. As soon as you notice a negative thought or bad feeling, stop yourself right there and then and turn it into a positive affirmation.
   We all have so many negative programmes in our subconscious mind that have been given to us by our parents and other adult influences in our life during childhood (this is not their fault, they are just passing on the beliefs they have been given from their parents).
   The best way of doing this is to watch our thoughts and emotions and practice positive thinking and affirmations every day of our life. Slowly but surely we are able to reprogramme our mind, changing negative beliefs that hinder our life experiences to positive beliefs of self worth and love, enabling us to live a more fulfilled life, attracting positive loving experiences into our daily existence. So if you catch yourself thinking a negative thought such as ‘I have a bad relationship or I am so broke’, immediately turn this into a positive thought such as ‘I have a happy, loving relationship or, I now have an abundance of money’ — any affirmation will do as long as it turns the negative into a positive. It doesn’t matter if you don’t really believe it initially, if you say it regularly enough, the subconscious will start believing it and begin attracting it to you. It is amazing how this one practice can change your whole life.

Love yourself : 

Most of us are bought up thinking it is wrong to love ourselves, that we are vain if we even like ourself. This programme sets us up for so much heartache in our life. The truth is, if we don’t love ourselves, we cannot truly love anyone else. Until we love ourself unconditionally, we are constantly looking for fulfillment in other people, especially our partners, which can only lead to disappointment and heartache. When we can honestly say we love every part of ourselves, we will automatically stop judging others. It is then that we realise, we are all perfect in spirit and doing the best we can in this human existence with the programmes we have been given in childhood. When we can just accept without judgement, we really start to understand the term inner peace. It is then that we can truly forgive others for the wrongs we think they have done to us — often becoming the cause of lifelong pain and eventually illness or disease of our physical body.

Time to meditate :By meditating, we are nurturing our body, mind and spirit. If we spend 20 minutes every day in meditation, we will soon reap the rewards. We become more peaceful throughout the day and sleep more soundly at night. Things that would normally upset us start to just wash over us — the peace is too lovely for us to let these little incidents interfere with it. Anxiety and other fear-based emotions will drop away as we become aware that we are connected to the creator and the abundance of the universe, leaving us feeling safe and peaceful. Our own spiritual guidance becomes stronger and we become more in tune with our own psychic gifts.

Live in the ‘now’ : When we live for today, life becomes so much less stressful. Really, all that there is, is now. None of us even know if tomorrow will ever come, so why do we spend so much time worrying about tomorrow instead of making the most of what we know we do have and filling our days with laughter and love. If there is only now, then there is no yesterday, no past and no reason to be angry at anybody. When we can release all anger from our body we will certainly feel the benefits. Holding on the anger and unforgiveness is debilitating to our physical and emotional bodies. I read once that the most selfish thing we can ever do is to forgive. I truly understand that now, forgiveness equals freedom. If we are holding on to anger we need to work on loving ourself. If there is no tomorrow, no future, no reason to stress about bills and money, no reason to worry about what’s going to happen to. 
   By     : Lyn Nichols – an expert in the field of New Age spirituality
Source : sunday times.

            So how do thoughts affect us? Thoughts can be episodic and fleeting, or they can be recurrent, or they can become a belief. Let’s see the kind of beliefs people have:

·                    I am so plain, who will like me?

·                    Money only comes to people who are wicked and evil and who do wheeling and dealing.

·                    I will always be fat because I have fat genes and no willpower.

·                    Some people are lucky but I’m not.

·                    Life is a struggle.

A lot of you must be wondering what such esoteric ideas have to do with health. Here’s what:

Health is th final outcome of our thoughts. Many doctors struggle to heal their patients of lifestyle diseases, skin problems and allergies and find it frustrating because the patient harbours such strong fatalistic thoughts that ultimately the disease wins and the doctor loses.

We have to ultimately realize the presence of the most powerful energy in the universe – mental energy and thoughts. All thoughts about ourselves need to be watched. Are they about prosperity, health, positive relationships or they only fearful thoughts of loss of money, bad health, children who hanker after money? Thoughts are energy. Repeated thoughts become habits, habits become character and character leads to destiny.

So please be responsible about what you think.

Tag:[tag] health, habits, character, destiny, relationships, prosperity, thoughts, life style, energy, gandhi, physical pain, family, money, fat, struggle, luck [/tag]
By Shikha Sharma

Source – HT

love and intimacy is the cause of all our happiness and sorrow; our well-being and sickness, and of all our pain and healing. To give up one is to give up the other. If you deny yourself love for fear of the pain, you would undoubtedly be depriving yourself of all the ecstasies too. Surely the high that love alone can swing you to is worth the risk of pain?
   And then, there is a beauty to even the pain that love brings. Its beauty lies in the depth of emotion we experience and to the way we respond to it. Some of our most beautiful poetry, songs and art have been the result of emotional turmoil resulting from rejection in love. In fact many creative artists work on perfecting the art of wallowing in melancholy. The world’s greatest love stories have ended in pain and separation. Does that stop us from idolising Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Isolde, Heer Ranjha or Paro Devdas?
   There are those who say that love never ends. Two individuals may choose to end a relationship, yet if they truly loved each other, the love lasts beyond their togetherness. It is an emotion that you can revisit and wrap around yourself as a comfort in times of loneliness and despair. Love imbues two individuals with a sense of wellbeing, happiness and confidence that rest of the world cannot penetrate. And when they separate, why must they also give up all the positive strokes love brought them?
   Whether or not you are able to smile at shared happy moments later and retain the positive feelings really depends on the way two individuals choose to end their relationship.
   Dr Brian Weiss in Only Love is Real, the book Princess Diana read just before she took off on her last holiday with Dodi, explains that love is a powerful, reuniting energy. If you believe in love as the be-all and end-all of our existence; as both the beginning as well as conclusion of the journey of life, you would agree that we need to go through any number of relationships in life because we learn our life’s lessons through them — “forgiveness, understanding, patience, awareness, non-violence…We have to unlearn other traits, such as f e a r … a n ge r … . g r e e d … h at r e d … pride… ego which result from old conditioning.’
   If that’s so, then the very purpose of the beginning and ending of a relationship must be to enable us to learn valuable lessons. And, if we don’t understand that, we would be doomed to a series of loves that keep ending in grief!
   Love sharpens our senses and mental faculties. It increases our capacity for giving as well as receiving emotion. Love brings with it enlightenment and a lightness of being. And when love creeps away, it leaves us with a depth of emotion that is just as meaningful and necessary to our existence, to the very fabric of our lives…
   I hold it true, whate’er befall;
   I feel it, when I sorrow most;
   ‘Tis better to have loved and lost
   Than never to have loved at all.
   — Lord Tennyson

 by       : vinita dawra nangia

source : timeslife.