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Diet Tips For Insulin Resistance

Your diet plays a major role in keeping diabetes at bay. However, if you already have diabetes, a diet plan helps you manage it better. A proper diet plan with the right mix of foods regulates your blood sugar and insulin levels. On the other side, it will increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes if you have insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a warning sign you should never ignore. If you are diagnosed with it, you must adopt healthy lifestyle choices such as performing regular workouts and having a balanced diet.

Here, we shall discuss some changes you need to adapt to regulate insulin sensitivity. The diet for insulin resistence.

1. Limit Carbohydrates

Supervising carbohydrate intake is an important strategy when it comes to achieving glycemic control. You can go ahead with carbs in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, which are healthy. However, skip on processed foods like pasta and white bread.

2. Control Your Food Portions

Apart from consuming healthy foods, it is also important to cut down on your portion size to increase the impact. Try to eat food in smaller portions throughout the day. Do not let yourself get too hungry, as it will increase the chance of eating more food.

3. Switch To Healthy Fats

If you are eating foods with fat content, make sure that they contain unsaturated fats. They help slow down digestion and offer essential fatty acids. Foods such as nuts and seeds provide healthy fats along with protein, fiber, and magnesium. Flax seeds and walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids, which will benefit your heart health.

4. Stay Away From Sweetened Beverages

There is no denying that sugars have the ability to increase blood sugar levels in the body. This eventually causes insulin resistance. Beverages such as soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices, and iced tea contain sugar substances, increasing insulin resistance.

5. Eat Foods Rich In Fibre

Consuming food containing 50 grams of fiber each day has improved glycemia in people with diabetes. Try to include avocado, Brussels sprouts, flaxseeds, peas, chia seeds, and quinoa, as they are rich in fiber and help regulate insulin resistance. In addition, they are low in calories and contain loads of vitamins and minerals along with antiinflammatory properties.

Aerial Yoga For Next Level Workout

Aerial yoga is a combination of traditional yoga with Pilates, acrobatics, and dance using a hammock. It’s also called anti-gravity yoga, zero gravity, upside down, and inversion therapy; it’s an art, sport, or practice of performing poses and inversions. This form of yoga has its origins in New York and was created by Christopher Harrison and developed in 2014. Aerial yoga is a combination of traditional yoga with pilates, acrobatics, and dance using a hammock. Let’s get into the aerial yoga benefits and do’s and don’ts to do it properly.

The hammock, which is a prop, acts as a swing encouraging the hips for both forward bends and backbends and can withstand up to 300 kilos on average. Different poses include cross position, leaning back with support, arms outspread, the star inversion, and one leg king pigeon pose.

Aerial Yoga Benefits

The use of the hammock allows individuals to perform postures that they may not perform on the mat.

• Aerial yoga also acts as a great core workout because the core muscles are engaged to balance and stabilize yourself.
• It is an excellent stress buster, improves circulation, boosts digestion, lifts the mood, and improves flexibility with less effort by counteracting gravity.
• It also promotes emotional, psychological, and spiritual health.
• Aerial yoga is particularly beneficial for students who spend a long time sitting or for back pain, as it has a decompressing impact on the spine and relaxes the body.
• It also improves cardiometabolic benefits, improves mental focus and concentration, and challenges the nervous system, mental capacity, and proprioception while improving the pulling strength of the body. 

However, most importantly, it is beginner-friendly. There are different types of moves in this type of yoga: chest opener, downward dog, plank with feet in the hammock, silk hammock row, inverted bow pose, and floating savasana.

Do’s And Don’ts

Do’s

• It is essential to properly warm-up before beginning an aerial workout as the muscles are more elastic when they are warm. By warming up, you can also prevent overstretching injuries and incorporate your equipment in the warm-up.
• Opt for a 5-10 minutes light cardio and some dynamic stretching before you touch your swing.

Don’ts

• There are some poses like a floating bow which is not recommended for pregnant women, vertigo patients, or high blood pressure patients.
• Alcohol and aerial equipment do not match or mix. This is because your confidence massively increases after alcohol. Therefore, you might be willing to try things you would not do if you were sober, and the odds probably won’t be in your favor, so it’s better to be careful beforehand.
• It would help if you work through your progress stages and did not rush into more advanced stages as your muscles need first to get conditioned. Thus, it is better to perform a basic pose perfectly than a wobbly advanced pose.
• Do not practice anti-gravity postures on a full stomach, as this may cause digestion issues.
• Don’t apply lotions, moisturizers, perfumes, or makeup while performing this type of yoga, as your yoga silk will quickly become dirty.

Anti-gravity or suspension yoga is an upcoming yoga brand that brings yoga benefits to a new setting through the swing. Practitioners can sink into poses and challenge their flexibility and strength during inversions and transitions. Though this form of yoga may be new, it is quickly popping up across the country and is an amazing addition to those aspects lacking in traditional yoga.

Hula Hoop Exercises

Hula hoop exercises are a super-fun way to exercise, burn calories, build strength, get rid of belly fat, and also fight mental illnesses like depression. This is not a new exercise to stay fit. It is an exercise routine where you need to twirl the hoop around your waist, belly, arms, and legs. The best part of this form of exercise is that it helps you burn the same amount of calories as exercises like kickboxing or aerobics. Depending on your weight, exercise duration, and intensity, you can burn up to 420 calories in a 60-minute session.

The American Council of Exercise sponsored a study on the calorie expenditure of hula hoop as an exercise and found that this exercise burned 210 calories in a 30-minute workout session equivalent to seven calories per minute. So all you need is a hula hoop, comfortable clothes, 30 minutes of your time and you are good to go!

Best Hula To Buy

The best hula hoop for adults is about 45 inches in diameter and weighs around 907.2 grams – it’s not heavy enough to bruise your body. In terms of size, the bigger the hoop, the easier it is to use because it gives you more time to react to the forward and backward hooping movements. The diameter of the right size hoop should be between the height of your waist and your breastbone.

Benefits Of Hula Hoop Exercises:

• Helps to keep you fit without following a mundane exercise regime
• Strengthens your pelvic muscles as they are involved in hooping
• Works well on your abs and strengthens your core muscles as well
• Increases blood circulation which in turn increases your brain activity
• Burns up to 420 calories in just an hour
• Eliminates belly fat and gives you a flat tummy
• Makes you cheerful and helps to maintain positivity
• Fights depression
• Increases flexibility.

Hula Hoop Your Way To Fitness!

THE BEST PART OF THIS FORM OF EXERCISE IS THAT IT HELPS YOU TO BURN THE SAME AMOUNT OF CALORIES AS EXERCISES LIKE KICKBOXING OR | AEROBICS

8 Hoop Exercises

Before beginning any exercise, ensure that you always do a warmup for back mobilization:

• Stand straight with your hands outstretched
• Rotate your upper body towards one side
• Feel the movement in your back
• Now turn to the opposite side and feel the movement in your back
• Repeat 10-15 times

1. Waist Hooping Forward:

Stance Place the hula hoop at your waist level and stand with a side stance with your arms outstretched. Keep one of your knees slightly forward and bend it and then hoop the hula around your waist.

2. Waist Hooping Side

Stance Place the hula around your waist level with a side stance and arms outstretched and then hoop in sideways.

3. Waist Hooping With Squats

Stand straight with your legs, shoulder-width apart; keep the hula hoop around your waist while squatting

4. Hooping With Lunges

Hold the hula with your hands; keep your hands over your head and hoop the hula in your hands while doing the forward and backward lunge.

5. Ninja Passes

Hold the hula hoop with your hands with your feet shoulder-width apart. Slightly bend your knee, pass the hula around your waist to the other hand and keep passing it.

6. Hula V Holds

Sit on the floor and raise your leg off the floor with your hands up, hold the hula between your hands and legs and hold this position for 60 seconds.

7. Hula Russian Twists

Sit on the floor with your feet on the floor and flex your knee. Lift your upper body to 45 degrees and hold the edges of the hula, while you continue twisting it sideward.

8. Hula Sit-Ups

Place the hula on the floor and lay on it in such a way that your lower back’s curve is on one end of the hula and the other end below your head. Hold the hula behind your head and pull your body upwards with the help of the hula.

Inner Thigh Exercises | Stretch Your Way To Strong Inner Thighs

Inner muscles of the thigh are identified as hip adductor muscles. It is a group of muscles that commonly originates from the pelvic bone and gets inserted into the femoral (thigh) bone. The biomechanical bony alignment of the musculoskeletal structure is balanced and it also maintains stability on the function of these muscle groups. An athlete’s motor control performance can be enhanced and improvised by balance, stability, and flexibility in reducing the muscle injury risks, as flexibility plays a vital role. Physiological muscle length and tension also contribute to flexibility. Let’s into the inner thigh exercises.

When Should You Stretch Your Inner Thighs?

According to many researchers and studies on stretching the inner thigh, muscle groups seem to show improvement in the blood supply to your muscles and increases the shortened muscles length. This keeps hip adductors free from injury during the competitive level of performance. Evidence-based data and studies prove that dynamic stretches are more effective pre-workout as it emits the same skillful movement and has less influence on post-workout. Dynamic stretching increases blood supply to the muscle groups and prepares the muscles for a workout, whereas static stretching works better post-workouts, as they assist in relaxing the muscles and improving flexibility too.

Benefits Of Strong Inner Thigh Muscles

The benefits of stretching your inner thighs are:

• Improves flexibility
• Improves range of motion
• Boosts body balance and posture
• Increases blood circulation
• Lessens muscle strain and other micro-injuries
• Reduces post-workout pain, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
• Lowers muscle tension

Common Stretching Techniques:

Generally, there are many variants of stretching but the most commonly used techniques are:

• Static stretching
• Dynamic stretching

Dynamic Stretching | Inner Thigh Exercises Before Workout

The dynamic stretching is mainly for doing before any exercises or to reduce the tightness of the inner thigh muscles. Thus, dynamic stretching helps to warm up your muscles and prepares them for exercise.

1. How To Do It

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart
• Lift your right leg and put your body weight on your left foot
• Slowly swing your right leg from side to side while avoiding twisting your torso
• Repeat this 20x on each leg

2. Get Started

• Start with your feet together, then step to the right with your right foot
• Cross your left in front of your right foot
• Step to the right again with your left foot and bring your left foot to join your right foot
• Once both your feet are together, repeat the same procedure in another direction.
• Continue for 2-3 minutes

Static Stretching | Inner Thigh Exercises After Workout

Static Stretching helps to lengthen the muscle by using an internal low muscle force and maintaining it for 20 seconds. These stretches can be done after your workout session.

1. How To Do It

• Sit on the floor by keeping both your feet together and knees apart
• Keep your back straight and then lean forward from your hips
• Apply gentle overpressure to your knees with your elbow
• Hold this position for 15-20 seconds
• Relax for 5 seconds
• Repeat this 3x

2. Get Started

• Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you
• Keep your back straight
• Slowly move your legs apart as far as possible
• Hold this position for 15-20 seconds
• Relax for 5 seconds
• Repeat this 3x

3. How To Do It

• To stretch both inner thigh muscles simultaneously, assume a quadruped position
• Slowly move your knees apart as far as possible
• Hold this position for 15-20 seconds
• Relax for 5 seconds
• Repeat this 3x

Safety Measures

• Breathe normally while you are stretching
• Don’t stretch your muscles beyond comfort; you may feel discomfort but no pain
• Stop stretching if it causes sudden pain

Hip adductors play a crucial role in maintaining balance and stabilizing your hips, knees, and lower back. By stretching your inner thigh muscles regularly, you can preserve muscle flexibility and prevent any chances of injury, groin pain, imbalance, etc.

Delicious Gluten Free Recipes

Gluten is a variety of rye, wheat, and barley proteins, which can irritate your gut and trigger allergic reactions. It is this protein that gives the bread a chewy texture and also provides elasticity to baked goods. For an Indian meal, replace your roti or chapati with red or brown rice. One should also avoid soy sauce, vinegar, and hing (asafoetida). We will talk you through the best gluten-free recipes so that you can easily prevent gluten and have a tasty diet in this article. Let’s get into these delicious gluten free recipes with an easy gluten free kisir recipe…

1. Easy Gluten Free Kisir

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup tender sorghum (Jowar)
2. 1 tablespoon Turkish hot pepper paste
3. A tablespoon tomato paste
4. 1 cup finely sliced spring onions(white and green together)
5. 1 cup chopped parsley
6. 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
7. 1 fresh green chili finely chopped
8. 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
9. 14 cup fresh lime juice
10. 1 tablespoon sugar molasses
11. Salt to taste
12. Iceberg Lettuce
13. Red chili flakes as per taste

Preparation:

1. Mix together the tender sorghum, spring onions, parsley, & mint.
2. Add tomato paste, green chili, Turkish hot pepper paste to the above mixture.
3. Make a salad dressing using, lime juice, olive oil, sugar molasses, and add it to the greens mixture.
4. Add salt to taste and mix the mixture thoroughly.
5. Sprinkle the chili flakes at the end.

2. Gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe is straightforward to make and gluten-free, and its deliciousness is even kid-approved. Here are the directions and ingredients:

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces gluten-free elbow pasta
• ¼ cup butter
• One ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon mustard powder
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 4 cups milk
• 4 cups shredded cheese (divided)

How to cook?

• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Grease up a baking dish.
• Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt to it. Cook the elbow macaroni in the boiling water and stir it occasionally until it’s cooked through but is firm to the bite, and then drain the water.
• Melt ¼ cup butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir mustard powder and salt into melted butter and remove the saucepan from heat.
• Whisk together the milk and cornstarch together in a bowl till it’s smooth; stir into the butter mixture until it’s blended together well.
• Return the saucepan to the gas and cook the milk mixture. Stir it constantly over medium heat until sauce is thick, about 5 minutes. Then add the cheese and stir it till the cheese melts and then remove the saucepan from heat.
• Add pasta to cheese sauce and stir constantly and pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is crunchy, about 30 minutes.

3. Mushroom Brown Rice

Brown is a healthier substitute for your regular white rice, and it retains all the essential nutrients in the bran. This easy rice dish needs about 30 minutes to make and is full of flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown basmati rice
• 9-10 mushrooms sliced
• Salt to taste
• One onion
• One green capsicum
• ½ cup butter or 2 Tbsp olive
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups water.

Procedure:

• Wash the brown rice with water.
• Cut the onions, mushrooms, and capsicum.
• In a saucepan, add butter/olive oil and add onions. Saute it till pink.
• Add mushrooms. Saute till they wilt.
• Now add the capsicum. Stir and then pre-washed brown rice. Saute for 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add salt, pepper, and 2 cups water.
• Cook till the rice is ready.

4. Chicken Quinoa Biryani

 

A rich meal with protein will keep you full till dinner; this biryani needs quinoa and juicy chicken chunks. Quinoa is low on calories and high on fiber while it keeps you full for long hours. This chicken quinoa biryani is perfect for a light lunch and is mildly flavored.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Quinoa
• One tomato
• Two onions
• Three green chilies
• ¼ cup Mint leaves
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• ¼ cup coriander or cilantro leaves
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ Turmeric powder
• ½ cup fresh yogurt
• Salt to taste

To marinate:

• 250 gm chicken
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• ¼ ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp curd
• 1 tsp coriander powder

To temper:

• 3 tbsp oil
• Three cardamom
• Four cloves
• One small bay leaf

Procedure:

• Wash the chicken well and drain the remaining water. Marinate it with the given ingredients and cover it and keep it aside for about 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker or skillet, add the tempering ingredients one by one, then add green chili, cilantro, onion, mint leaves, and sprinkle little salt for 1-2 minutes.
• Add ginger-garlic paste and saute until the smell leaves and then add tomato and saute till it turns soft and mushy.
• Now add the marinated chicken, turmeric, and chili powder and stir for 2-3 minutes more. Cover and cook it for 6-7 minutes or till the chicken gets 3/4th cooked.
• Add 1 cup yogurt, 2-3 cups of water, enough salt, and allow it to boil. Once it starts steaming, reduce the heat and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
• Layer with quinoa, and then enjoy. Pair it up with raita and a generous squeeze of lime.

5. Jowar Tacos with spicy chicken filling

With this recipe, you get to try enjoyable Mexican tacos made from scratch with jowar flour and loaded with a spiced-up chicken filling. Aside from being gluten-free, a cup of jowar has a whopping 22 grams of protein and is a powerhouse of other essential minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.

Ingredients

For the Tacos:

• ¾ cup jowar flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup wheat flour
• 40gm cold butter
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the spice chicken filling

• One chicken breast
• 1 tsp fresh ginger paste
• 1 tsp fresh garlic paste
• One onion, pasted
• 1 tsp paprika
• Three ripe tomatoes, chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp dried herbs
• ½ tsp jaggery
• 2 tbsp oil

To assemble

• Crisp greens of your selection
• Barbeque sauce
• Cream cheese or hung yogurt.

Procedure:

For the Tacos:

• Put the jowar flour, wheat flour, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add the butter and start rubbing the mixture using your fingers until it looks like bread crumbs.
• Pour some warm water a bit at a time and continue kneading till it forms a soft dough and keep it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes after wrapping it with a cling film.
• Take the dough, knead it a little, divide it into small balls, and shape it into circular discs. You may need some flour for dusting while rolling the balls.
• Heat a frying pan and roast the tacos on both sides on medium heat. Then transfer to a preheated oven set at 150 degrees C and bake for 5 minutes.
• Remove the tacos from the oven. Set the rolling pin at the center of each taco and slightly bend the edges.

For the spicy chicken filling:

• While the tacos are in the oven, make the filling. Heat oil in a pan and add onions, ginger, and garlic pastes and stir for about 2-3 minutes on medium flame.
• Add the tomatoes and stir for 4-5 minutes till the mixture is nice and pulpy. Add paprika, jaggery, and salt, then mix well—tip in the chicken cubes, coat well in the mix. Put a cover above the pan and allow it to cook for about 8 minutes.
• Mix in the oregano and check to season.
• For Assembling, load the tacos with spicy chicken filling, fresh greens, cream cheese, and serve immediately.

Following gluten free recipes helps you not to give up on your favorites. Just experiment and tweak in the kitchen, and you never know when you might land a masterpiece of your own. Happy cooking!