Have you been reading up a lot about what is healthy enough to eat and what is not ? Are you confused by the contradictory opinions, and being called crazy by your friends for your ever changing opinions on what is good and what is not ?I am.
I have also been playing around with lot of different diet options to see what works and what doesn't. Been reading up a LOT and been asking doctors of modern medicine, Ayurved, Naturopathy... the list goes on. After all this experimentation, I have started to realize that eating healthy is very similar to writing a good elegant piece of code. I have pieced together few basics (written a little bit in SDLC lingo) which pretty much summarize the pillars of healthy eating.
Software developer or not, I think the following points would be helpful to all when question "Is this thing I am about to eat healthy for me ?"
1. Less processed food is like a well documented code.
Our body works like a machine. We all know it. It expects a certain input and a specific format (which *is* quite a big range). Personal experimentation have shown, the closer something is to being raw and unprocessed, the easier it is for our body to understand how to best extract nutrition out of it.
If you put in something that has been cooked, then fried, then frozen.. you are confusing your system quite a bit. Even if the starting ingredient was organic and freshly picked, it is now too far from the origin to retain much nutrition.
2. Not reading the ingredients and nutrition facts, is like not reading documentation.
If you are planning to out source a part of your software to a third party implementation, the least you can do is to read what they have to say about their product!! If you cannot do that, you cannot complain about any side effects it may cause. Thats step1.
Step 2, it is important to understand what is written, and read between the lines!! Yes, on the cover it says "All Natural", "Fat- Free" etc etc. This may sound like a perfect snack!! But beware, look behind in the ingredient list. Is there anything that you don't understand ? Can you do a quick Google and see what that "natural flavor" is ? Thanks to the plethora of articles written on almost every ingredient, this step shouldn't be hard. It might be confusing though, as more often than not, there are conflicting opinions. My rule of thumb for this is : "Even if 40% of people say it is bad, why should I risk it!"
3. But this is organic brown sugar. This can't be that bad!!.
Not saying that sugar is good or bad. But sugar in any form is sugar. Be watchful how many gms of it you are putting in your body. Unless you are running right after eating the sugary treat, odds are it'll probably add up to your fat.
4. Get the requirements right - Know what you really need.
One of the big advantages in today's time is to have good medical diagnosis available to a lot of us. Now, there may not be a cure available all the time, but it is always a better option to go see a doctor, get a complete physical done and see your numbers for yourself. "My symptoms are very similar to a friend of mine. I must have a the same issue. I should follow the same diet" isn't very scientific and may delay your progress or even put you on a wrong path.
5. The only way to learn how to code, is to do it yourself!:
The best way to find out what works for your body is to find it practically. If you have heard from 10 people that juicing is good, maybe try it for 2 weeks!! See how you feel!. Once you know what specific nutrients you are lacking, see what natural alternatives are available to you.
6. Clean and simple is always a winner.
Can you get some fresh organic ingredients and make a meal ? Perfect!You have a winner!!
Cooking something by your own hands helps you sleep at peace since you know what you put in it.
Yes, we all have days when we are too tired to cook. A freshly prepared meal from a restaurant is also a lot better than something that is canned or frozen.
Would love to hear from you : what are your basics for a healthy diet ?
I have also been playing around with lot of different diet options to see what works and what doesn't. Been reading up a LOT and been asking doctors of modern medicine, Ayurved, Naturopathy... the list goes on. After all this experimentation, I have started to realize that eating healthy is very similar to writing a good elegant piece of code. I have pieced together few basics (written a little bit in SDLC lingo) which pretty much summarize the pillars of healthy eating.
Software developer or not, I think the following points would be helpful to all when question "Is this thing I am about to eat healthy for me ?"
1. Less processed food is like a well documented code.
Our body works like a machine. We all know it. It expects a certain input and a specific format (which *is* quite a big range). Personal experimentation have shown, the closer something is to being raw and unprocessed, the easier it is for our body to understand how to best extract nutrition out of it.
If you put in something that has been cooked, then fried, then frozen.. you are confusing your system quite a bit. Even if the starting ingredient was organic and freshly picked, it is now too far from the origin to retain much nutrition.
2. Not reading the ingredients and nutrition facts, is like not reading documentation.
If you are planning to out source a part of your software to a third party implementation, the least you can do is to read what they have to say about their product!! If you cannot do that, you cannot complain about any side effects it may cause. Thats step1.
Step 2, it is important to understand what is written, and read between the lines!! Yes, on the cover it says "All Natural", "Fat- Free" etc etc. This may sound like a perfect snack!! But beware, look behind in the ingredient list. Is there anything that you don't understand ? Can you do a quick Google and see what that "natural flavor" is ? Thanks to the plethora of articles written on almost every ingredient, this step shouldn't be hard. It might be confusing though, as more often than not, there are conflicting opinions. My rule of thumb for this is : "Even if 40% of people say it is bad, why should I risk it!"
3. But this is organic brown sugar. This can't be that bad!!.
Not saying that sugar is good or bad. But sugar in any form is sugar. Be watchful how many gms of it you are putting in your body. Unless you are running right after eating the sugary treat, odds are it'll probably add up to your fat.
4. Get the requirements right - Know what you really need.
One of the big advantages in today's time is to have good medical diagnosis available to a lot of us. Now, there may not be a cure available all the time, but it is always a better option to go see a doctor, get a complete physical done and see your numbers for yourself. "My symptoms are very similar to a friend of mine. I must have a the same issue. I should follow the same diet" isn't very scientific and may delay your progress or even put you on a wrong path.
5. The only way to learn how to code, is to do it yourself!:
The best way to find out what works for your body is to find it practically. If you have heard from 10 people that juicing is good, maybe try it for 2 weeks!! See how you feel!. Once you know what specific nutrients you are lacking, see what natural alternatives are available to you.
6. Clean and simple is always a winner.
Can you get some fresh organic ingredients and make a meal ? Perfect!You have a winner!!
Cooking something by your own hands helps you sleep at peace since you know what you put in it.
Yes, we all have days when we are too tired to cook. A freshly prepared meal from a restaurant is also a lot better than something that is canned or frozen.
Would love to hear from you : what are your basics for a healthy diet ?
