Lisa Sarah John suggests these elementary changes in your diet that is bound to keep you in high spirits

MAGIC pill isn’t the answer to revitalising yourself. A little reshuffling of your eating habits, a dash of exercise and a couple of litres of water intake daily is all you need to keep that awful lethargy at bay.

As a diet counsellor and sports nutritionist to the National Cricket Academy, I have seen that what we eat has a profound influence on our bodies, our day-to-day energy levels, work output, mental performance, social well being and finally our long term health status.

Here are my top five food groups (okay, two are drinks) for more feel-good-now vitality.

Stay Awash With H2O
We all know that the human body is 60 per cent water, which is easily lost as perspiration, urine, saliva and other digestive juices and enzymes. This loss needs to be replaced daily. Research indicates that we require at least eight to10 glasses of water daily.

Keep in mind, there is no fitness or good health without water.

Water’s main tasks include regulating your body’s internal temperature and flushing out toxins. If your water intake is low, your saliva and perspiration become highly concentrated, and eventually your mouth and body will give an offensive odour. Signs enough that you should drink up some more ASAP.

Remember that juices, coffee, tea, etc, are not included as part of water intake. Sip water throughout the day and increase the intake while exercising, during hot weather and while on a weight reduction programme. Plain water is one of the best tonics for good health, so stick with it.

Set Your Pulses Ticking
Once again, the main motivation for recommending pulses or dals is that they form an excellent source of protein. Unlike carbs, protein takes a while to get digested. This keeps you from feeling hungry often.

So if you eat only roti and sabji, for lunch or dinner, you will find that you are hungry often and tend to snack. This leads to weight gain. Besides this, pulses are also a good source of Vitamin B and iron. Hence, pulses or dals should be eaten both at lunch and dinner.
Munch On Salads And Fruits
Fresh fruit and salads have almost disappeared from our dining routines. Instead chips, colas, chocolates rule the kitchen. Fruits and salads are filler foods, and if consumed in bulk, prevent the urge of snacking between meals.

They are also a good source of vitamins and minerals unlike processed foods. Finally, they are also a store house of fibre, which helps raise your metabolic rate and keep weight, sugar, and fat levels down.

By including just four servings of raw fruits and veggies in your diet daily, you’ll notice a significant difference in your energy levels. Eat a fruit at 11 am and 6 pm, and add a salad to both lunch and dinner menu.

Fruits make for a great snack because they contain no fat. Also, the glucose and fructose sugars in a fruit are digested easily in about 20 minutes. I would recommend apples and tomatoes at all times for everyone.

Apples are a good source of Vitamins A and B; are low in calories and high in fibre. Each apple has about 50-60 calories per 100 g as opposed to a banana, which has 100-120 calories for 100 g.

Tomato is the most nutritious raw vegetable, for it is a good source of Vitamins A, B and C, has high fibre content and few calories.

Surprisingly, it is the simple changes to your diet that can yield enormous results. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself and watch out for that extra spring in your step soon.

(The writer is a Bangalore-based Diet Counsellor and Consultant to the National Cricket Academy)