URI MENA Cultural Café- 26th Session
On 10 October 2020, URI MENA Cultural Café session was on “Healthy Living,” facilitated by Eng. Ayman Al-Zu’by hosted Dr. Atta Al-Qaisi from Palestine.
Dr. Al Qaisi tackled several important topics including the selection of best food products available in the market, as well as physical exercises and weightloss diets. Dr. Al- Qaisi happily answered participants’ questions.
Major takeaways:
– There is no such thing as healthy food. There are no universal principles for healthy diets. It depends on each body; different people can have a completely different reaction to the same food.
– There are several factors that can affect your efforts to lose weight. These include making changes to your diet, exercise, and lifestyle. However, we need to be careful when selecting the best diet. For example, the keto diet could cause low blood pressure, kidney stones, constipation, nutrient deficiencies and an increased risk of heart disease.
– Healthy living leads to good health. It means both physical and mental (emotional) health, hence we should have a balance between physical and mental health. Healthy habits make a big difference. Healthy lifestyle involves:
1. Reduction of stress level. Stress makes our body produce adrenaline and cortisol that stimulate the increase of sugar levels in the blood. We need to entertain ourselves by playing games, sports we love, travel, meditations & yoga, stop multitasking, hike…etc.
2. Sleep enough, it is better to sleep early and wakeup early.
3. Healthy diet. We need to consult with a nutritionist or dietitian to help fine-tune our diet. Generally speaking, do the followings:
• Eat healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products
• Avoid unhealthy foods like red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium
• Avoid eating raw or undercooked meats of any type
• Eat three healthy meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner); it is important to remember that dinner does not have to be the largest meal
• Control portion sizes; eat the smallest portion that can satisfy hunger and then stop eating
• Avoid eating a large meal before sleeping.
4. Healthy physical activity: we need at least 30 minutes per day of moderate-intensity physical activity on at least five days per week. The best time is morning an hour before breakfast.
5. Maintain a healthy body weight.
6. Stop smoking and reduce alcoholic drinks.
