Five hours to noon

………. It’s 7:00am at my resisdence

I switched on the TV to watch Michael on Sativ Two Morning show. During the newspaper review, the host had to repeat one question three times before getting Michael's attention. Strangely enough, after the first commercial break, when the content of the mug in front of Michael became empty, he also became more attentive. (Research shows concentration levels are low in the mornings when food has not been eaten).

…………… It’s 8:00am at Trape Trust
Mimi walks into the office only to be greeted with unplanned work from her superior. Looking at the workload, which needed to be done before noon, Mimi wonders when she can grab breakfast. She was unable to have breakfast before coming to the office as she had no appetite for it. "I hope I have enough energy to finish this work by noon", Mimi whispers to herself (Studies show energy levels are low in the morning when breakfast has not been eaten).

……………. It’s 10:00am Wichgreen
Lix has just woken up, and he has an assignment to turn  in 2 hours. He is fortunate to have woken at 10:00am as he slept at a quarter to 6:00am after having an all-night meeting with Game of Thrones. He quickly showers and put on his laptop to finish his 4000 word-assignment of which 500 words have been typed. As he typed, he wonders if Philip was able to make to his 9:00am lecture as he was part of the Game of Thrones all-night meeting. His sister calls out to him to come get his breakfast and his response, "Chale I have to turn this assignment in before noon and besides I am checking my weight". (Research shows people who skip breakfast tend to eat unhealthily, leading to weight gain).

…………. It’s 12:00noon at ESL
Kweku is seen chatting heartily with his friends at the cafeteria. Few hours back, this was not the situation. There was no smile on his face and any question asked by his colleagues got him irritated. In his quest to save money for the future, Kweku has decided to eat once a day. For Kweku, Lunch can compesate for all the three main meals of the day. (Studies show when people have low energy levels, they tend to be lethargic and can easily be irritated.).

Which of the above scenarios best describes you? Is an early morning assignment, loss of appetite, waking up late, weight management or/and saving money among others preventing you from eating breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day? Read more about the benefits of breakfast here.

This week on the Olime Health page www.facebook.com/olimehealth, we will be giving you tips to enable us eat breakfast regardless of the "obstacles". Do not be surprised to find fruits and vegetables in these tips as in this month, we are looking at fruits and vegetables. If you missed out on any of  our posts on fruits and vegetables, you can read from here.

Till then, have a lovely week and may all you hope for in this week come to pass.

Cheers!

Pictures: Courtesy Google Images

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Just a finger?

Yesterday, a friend offered me some bunch of bananas she was eating of which I took a finger to eat. She asked in a surprising tone if that would be enough for me. I answered in the affirmative, explaining to her how a medium size banana would do the same job as a bunch will do. She laughed and told me she would never eat a finger of banana while shaking her head at me. Thankfully, her head did not fall off (lol). Smiling, I asked her the size of Water Melon she eats. "Water Melon? I don't like that fruit. Infact the only fruit I eat is banana because that is what I like", she replied.

Hello Dearies, how are you doing? How did the first working week in February go? This is my second post on fruits and vegetables, in which I will give you more information and tips on them to enable you become a healthier you. If you missed the first post, you can read it here. In this post, I will look at portion size (amount, quantity) and the need for us to include different fruits and vegetables in our daily diet.

Like I mentioned in the first post, fruits and vegetables are to be eaten everyday and not few days of the week or month (Go here for a recap). In order to achieve the amount of Vitamins (especially B and C, Folic Acid) and Minerals and other nutrients, which our bodies need to protect us from diseases and promote our wellbeing, it is recommended for us to eat at least 5 portion sizes of fruits and vegetables per day. A portion size of a fruit or vegetable can be one-medium size of the fruit/vegetable, a handful of the fruit/vegetable, half slice of the fruit/vegetables. For example; 1-medium tomato, a handful of grapes and 1- slice (2-inch slice) of Water Melon. When we eat the right portion size of a fruit or vegetable, we provide the body the amount of each Vitamin and/or Mineral it needs to function properly. Do not therefore be worried or surprised like my friend, when you have only one medium banana to eat in the morning.

Eating different fruits and vegetables is the best way to go. Like the saying, variety is the spice of life, so it is when we want to eat healthily and for that matter, fruits and vegetables. When different varieties of fruits and vegetables are eaten, we make available the different types of Vitamins, Minerals and other nutrients, which each fruit and vegetable contains, to the body, enabling it to carry out its function well to protect and promote our wellbeing. If you are like my friend who only eats banana, you are most likely depriving your body some vitamins and minerals and this can be detrimental to your health. Imagine this; you are always eating only fruit A and this fruit lacks Vitamin C, which is needed for maintaining healthy connective tissues, how would your connective tissues be made healthy then? Hope you see and appreciate the point I am making. This therefore means we are to include different fruits and vegetables in our diet. The rainbow can be a guide when choosing the 5 portions (at least) fruits and vegetables for our daily diet , different colour of fruit and vegetable.   

I will end the second post on fruits and vegetables. I hope I have answered some of your questions. In my next post, I will look at how to "hunt" for fruits and vegetables and how we can have a low budget on them. As much as I would have loved to continue the fruit and vegetables series next week, I have to postpone it to the week after and for the Valentine Day celebrations. Yes! next week is St. Valentine's Day.

I am sharing this blog post with my friend, I hope you will do same with your loved ones, so together we can become a healthier us.

Do remember to like us on Facebook  (www.facebook.com/olimehealth) if you have not and if you have, invite a loved one to like us, so they do not miss out on the healthy tips being shared on the page each day .

Till then, Cheers!

Pictures: Courtesy Google images

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