All About Keto: A Beginner’s Guide To The Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet’s (keto, for short) fast ascent to fame probably has you wondering if it’s just another fad that’ll fade away with time. Actually, this diet has been around for a while and possesses a diverse testimonial of all kinds of people who cited great results from it.

What is a keto diet?

Like most diets, the keto diet has a strict set of rules as to what you can and cannot eat. Here’s a fun fact: your body loves glucose! If it has glucose on hand, then your body is going to turn to glucose for energy.

But by cutting down your carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat, it’ll put your body into a state of ketosis, which is when the full effect of embarking on a keto diet takes place! This means that your body will start burning fat for energy on top of converting these fats into ketones in the liver, which supplies energy for the brain.

There are several versions of the keto diet, but the standard ketogenic diet (SKD) is the most well-researched one – making it the most recommended type. The SKD is a very low-carb, moderate-protein and high-fat diet, typically containing around 75% fat, 20% protein and only 5% carb.

What to eat on a keto diet

A keto diet typically limits carbs to 20-30 grams per day. Cutting out carbs is easier said than done. But by incorporating the right amount of nutritious food, then hopefully you can easily fit into this way of eating. Here are some examples of food you can eat: seafood, low-carb vegetables, cheese, avocados, meat and poultry, eggs, plain greek yoghurt, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, shirataki noodles, and more.

How it aids in weight loss

Your body burning fat for energy is beneficial for weight loss. As fat burning is increased, insulin levels drop significantly – making it easier for body fat loss to occur without hunger. Having around 200 calories of protein and fat makes you feel full faster, as compared to 200 calories of heavy carbs.

At the end of the day, calorie is still calorie. In order to lose weight effectively, you have to burn more calories than what you eat. So, a balanced lifestyle is essential in this diet! As the keto diet is somewhat known in Singapore, it’s best to look out for the best weight loss programs with activities catered to those on this diet.

The keto diet isn’t for everyone

There are various groups of people who should avoid attempting on the keto diet. To illustrate, people with diabetes, at risk of heart disease, and pregnant or breastfeeding women shouldn’t try this diet. To be on the safe side, it’s best to consult your doctor or a registered dietitian before drastically changing your eating habits!

Conclusion

Since its high in saturated fat, the keto diet isn’t sustainable in the long run. Most experts recommend staying on keto for a maximum amount of six months only, before slowly reintroducing carbs to your diet. For another natural alternative of weight loss, TCM slimming treatments can be considered. It makes use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to improve your health and metabolism, aside from helping you lose weight. As an all-natural treatment, the results are sustainable and doesn’t require you to undergo diet changes or consume diet supplements!

Staying Home? Here’s How To Keep Healthy And Active

As we practise safe distancing by staying at home due to COVID-19, we’re bound to get in a slump. If you’re working from home, then you’d find yourself sitting with your eyes glued to the digital screen for at least 8 hours. As we focus on getting work done, we fall into a monotonous routine of mindless eating, working, sleeping – and repeat.

Staying at home for a long time can be rather challenging for remaining physically active. A sedentary behaviour paired with unhealthy eating can be harmful to your health and wellbeing, such as leading to weight gain. While self-isolating, let’s not neglect our physical and mental health as well. As we stay put, here’s how to keep healthy and active!

Sit less

Take small breaks of sitting in your desk, at least every 20 to 30 minutes. Take a walk around your house or play with your pet. Or, you could perform two tasks at once by sweeping or mopping the house! Not only will that get you up on your feet and moving, but you’ll also spend your breaks productively. Afterwards, you can continue working in a conducive environment.

Stick to an exercise regime

At home, there are many forms of exercises we can do to keep physically active. One of them is callisthenics, which is a form of exercise that utilise your body weight to train. It’s perfect for doing at home, as you can do exercises such as sit-ups, squats and planks. You could even attempt some cardio workouts like running in place and jumping jacks. With many businesses going online, you could also sign up for the best weight loss program in Singapore offered by gyms or slimming centres, for an exercise routine or diet plan for you to stick to. To illustrate, some gym coaches guide you through video sharing platforms like Zoom! And don’t forget to protect your feet from blisters – put on a pair of non-slip socks or clean shoes.

Take a moment to breathe

Yoga is a great way to stay active and flexible. When we’re too overwhelmed with all the events that are going on, take a deep breath as you focus on keeping yourself centred. Additionally, yoga helps to manage back pain on top of relieving stress and anxiety! With the internet, you could go online and search up for yoga channels that you can follow.

An alternative to yoga is putting your thoughts on paper. There’s an activity called ‘morning pages’, where you write anything on your mind for up to three pages before you start your day. This is a helpful exercise as it allows you to unload instead of keeping your thoughts bottled up.

Plan your meals

With trends like dalgona coffee and banana bread brewing up in the kitchen, everyone seems to be more active in preparing their own meals. However, what you eat influences your state of health and mind. If you exercise but eat unhealthily, then it may not have that much effect on your health. By planning your meals, you can aim to have nutritionally well-balanced meals throughout your week. You also save time from frantically thinking of what to cook! However, we highly recommend preparing a grocery list to keep your trip to the supermarket short.

Conclusion

Just because we’re home, it doesn’t mean that our physical activities or healthy eating should come to a halt. This is the time for us to stay healthy so that our internal systems would be healthy and strong! If you keep eating unhealthily without much movement, then it’s bound to take a toll on your mental health too. The journey to losing weight is both extrinsically and intrinsically rewarding. Once everything soothes down, you could even consider going for TCM slimming treatments, available at Slim Couture, which not only focuses on trimming unwanted fat, but also prioritises other factors like improved sleep and stress relief, that influence your health.

Infused Water: 10 Ways To Jazz Up The Way You Drink Water

Beyond drinking at least two litres of water per day, why the strong emphasis on staying hydrated?

On a day-to-day basis, an average person loses up to 2.5 litres of fluid – without exercise. The need for water will increase significantly when you engage in regular exercise routines when following the best weight loss programs that you’re subscribed to. And if you fail to replace these lost fluids, then it could be detrimental to your health. With almost two-thirds of the adult human body consisting of water, perhaps it’s time we think of water as a nutrient that your body needs.

If water doesn’t excite you, try tweaking your water with flavours that your taste buds enjoy! Without further ado, here are ten infused water recipes to get you inspired! Take note that there’s no right and wrong way when it comes to the measurements! If you want a more robust flavour, add less water. On the flip side, add more water for a hint of flavouring.

1. Cinnamon Apple

Deseed sliced apples and add it to water, along with cinnamon sticks. This combination is often referred to as a flat belly drink.

2. Watermelon Mint

Cube and deseed fresh watermelons before adding it into water. For a refreshing spin, pluck some mint leaves depending on your preference. Mint leaves can always be added along the way, but once the leaves have infused then there’s no turning back!

3. Orange Ginger

A zest of orange goes a long way. On top of offering a tang of flavour, it also supplies vitamin C, which boosts your immunity! To aid with digestion and inflammation, combine it with a thinly-sliced ginger.

4. Lemon Turmeric

Lemon and water are a classic combination that you’re probably accustomed to seeing. When paired with a hint of spice in the form of turmeric, it makes for an energy drink! Mix a dash of turmeric into hot water first before adding it into the mixture. You can even drizzle in some honey!

5. Citrus Paradise

Excite your taste buds with some tang! Squeeze in fresh lemon, lime, and orange before leaving the remains in the water. This mixture will definitely freshen up your day.

6. Strawberry Kiwi

Add some kiwis and strawberries into a pitcher of water! You can choose to slice or cube it. This infused water is exceptionally beneficial for digestion.

7. Strawberry Jalapeno

Add sugar, spice and everything nice! The hint of jalapeno stimulates your metabolism while strawberries complement the spice and offer antioxidant properties.

8. Berry Mint

For an ample supply of antioxidants, add a couple of your go-to berries! From blueberries, strawberries, raspberries – the choice is yours. Take it up a notch by pureeing berries or add a drizzle of honey.

9. Mango Ginger

Both ginger and mango do wonders in boosting metabolism. To add on, ginger is a natural pain reliever – perfect if you have migraines of cramps! This mixture subsides heartburn too.

10. Cucumber Lemon

It’s no secret that cucumber contains hydrating properties, but what more if you drink it? In a cup of water, add slices of lemon and cucumber!

Especially if you desire to lose weight, water acts as an effective appetite suppressant that’ll make you feel fuller faster – all with zero calories! And we’re sure you’ve heard that water is the secret to youthful skin. By infusing water with all these delicious flavours from various power foods, there are loads of benefits in store for you!

Having a healthy diet combined with an active lifestyle is vital if you want to lose weight. But sometimes, we can’t help but get caught up with our busy lifestyle to put aside time for exercise. So, going for TCM slimming treatments would be a great choice if you’re looking for a natural way to lose weight without going through any drastic measures.

Intermittent Fasting 101: What It Is And How It Benefits You

Most dieting trends feature lots of restrictions as to what you can and cannot eat. To illustrate, keto says no to carbs, and limits protein and sugar intake. Meanwhile, intermittent fasting only dictates when to eat, and not exactly what you should be eating. During intermittent fasting, you will vary between periods of eating and fasting. It could be eating within 8 hours and then fasting for the remaining 16 hours of the day. However, you will still need to watch what you eat during the 8-hour period.

When combined with a healthy lifestyle, intermittent fasting can be particularly useful in aiding weight loss. Here are some tips to make the most out of your fast:

1. Strive to eat healthily: Consume fruits and vegetables, fibre, healthy forms of protein and healthy fats. Avoid sugar, fast foods, processed foods and refined grains.

2. Let your body burn fat between meals: Restrict yourself from snacking! Instead, stay active by signing up for the best weight loss program to build muscle tone.

3. Experiment to see what works for you: See if you prefer your 8-hour time frame to be from 7 am to 3 pm, or 10 am to 6 pm, as long as it’s not in the evening before you go to bed. This is because nighttime is for resting, not eating. Adding on, those who eat late at night tend to consume more calories instead – which contradicts the purpose of intermittent fasting.

Now, let’s move on to how intermittent fasting benefits in your weight-loss journey!

Decreases calorie intake

Restricting your eating window may naturally decrease your calorie intake! Adding on, it may also increase norepinephrine, which is a hormone that boosts your metabolism to promote the burning of calories throughout the day.

Lowers insulin level

As long as you don’t snack between meals, this eating pattern may reduce levels of insulin. The fat cells with stored sugar will then release them as energy! We lose weight when our insulin levels are down – which is the point of intermittent fasting, as it allows the insulin levels to decrease as much as possible, enabling your body to burn off fat.

Promotes heart health

In our weight loss journey, attaining a healthy body mass index (BMI) is one of the main goals aside from achieving your dream body. Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve blood pressure, cholesterol, inflammation and blood sugar levels which overall, improves heart health. In turn, it also reduces the risk of heart-related diseases.

Conclusion

There are many other health benefits to intermittent fasting, but if you want to see results in weight loss or overall health, it all comes down to nutrition and staying well-hydrated. Sometimes, certain diets won’t work for you, but you won’t know unless you try. Additionally, TCM slimming is also a great way to lose weight. Through the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it serves as an all-natural slimming treatment meant to improve your health and metabolism.

As we abide by the Circuit Breaker measures to flatten the curve, you can continue to take care of your health and stay on top of your weight goals at home! We look forward to serving you with your slimming and weight loss needs soon.