My Healthy Philosophy

So, yesterday, a friend asked me, a thin and slightly underweight person, how to get bigger and add some bulk. After some thinking, I told him to get more healthy calories from fats like peanut butter, olive oil, or chicken/pork fat and skin, since he was already eating rather big portions of rice and white meat. I told him that he could, you know, drink some olive oil to quickly add some 500 extra calories without much hassle every once in a while (100ml of it is about 900calories). And, unsurprisingly, he was totally shocked in disbelief at my suggestions. What! Animal fat? Drinking oil? Heresy!

Well, just so that I can say that I've tested it myself, I took about 40ml of EV olive oil and ate it with meat (skin and all), 2 large whole eggs and some salad sprinkled with tumeric (love the stuff). My conclusion? It was freaking delicious and filling. No complaints from me. Just, you know, exercise so you get more muscle rather than fat.

Well, for my philosophy, removing all junk from the foods you eat is the start (that mainly involves processed foods like biscuits, bread, chips, sweets, etc.). Another thing I use as a rule of thumb is that if it contains more than 1 ingredient, it's probably not good for you. Also, as far as possible, try not to take liquid calories ( that includes milo, coffee with milk sugar, canned drinks, boxed drinks, etc. i.e. drink plain water as much as you can). Try to reduce intake of sugar as much as possible (even from fruits, they CAN make you fat, depending on when and how much you eat at a time).

Most importantly (or least, depending on perspective), try to exercise some 30 minutes a day. Can't get 30 minutes? Set aside 10 minutes then. Walk around in the evening sun (or morning, if you prefer), do some resistance training (learn how to do squats and push ups properly), lift some weights every now and then (bench pressing, and again, squats) and just overall try to enjoy life.

If you're thinking, "Why is this guy asking me to do bench presses, push ups and lift weights even though I'm a girl?", worry not. Try. Break the social stigma. Scientific studies have proved time and time again that both males and females benefit from lifting weight as opposed to merely doing cardio training. That's not to say that cardio is bad, but find a balance between jogging (preferably not on a threadmill) and resistance training. Also because people tend to overdo themselves when jogging on a threadmill-- and that's detrimental to health.

I can't say for sure if the things I said above will help anyone to "get thin" or "lose weight" (I'm an engineer, after all, not a nutritionist), but it's just my philosophy that I've made from reading countless journals and studies and articles about being healthy. So, no, I did not read about losing weight or gaining mass, but rather about being healthy. But I can infer from the knowledge I've gained and draw conclusions that certain steps can lead to weight gain/loss. And these are some of them.