Most of us would give our right hands to have a well-toned body like Shilpa Shetty or rippling six packs like John Abraham but what holds us back is the time and energy needed for it and the sacrifices one has to make to reach our goal.

While many college kids boast of killer abs and svelte hips, most of them start losing it in their thirties. Lack of exercise is, of course, the main reason, but what every dietician and nutritionist will tell you is “eating right is half the battle won.” Our metabolism becomes slower as we grow older and the plate of oily bhajjias that we wouldn’t think twice about 10 years back, makes us reach for our bottle of antacid today.
Does that mean we give up all the good things in life and live on boiled veggies for the rest of our lives? Definitely not. The trick is, and has forever been, moderation. While genes play a large part in our ability to consume junk food or food laden with oil, we can do it all as long as we don’t overdo it.
The secret also lies in eating smaller meals more often rather than three large meals a day. It’s like cardio for the stomach. The more time the body spends digesting, the better our metabolism. This, however, does not mean eating a huge meal which our stomach can’t cope up with resulting in most of the energy being stored as fat. Many dieticians feel that five is the ideal number of meals one should have for a healthy body and good metabolism. The catchwords here are of course “small” and “healthy”.
The Caesar Salad is perhaps the most well known among salads and almost every restaurant does it differently promising that theirs is the authentic one. It can range from extremely unhealthy — drowned in mayonnaise sauce — to a dietician’s delight. While making your Caesar Salad at home, remember one cardinal rule: The ingredients have to be fresh for your salad to succeed.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Ingredients
250 gm boneless, skinless chicken breast
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves chopped garlic
3 cups torn romaine lettuce
leaves (any crisp lettuce
will do)
4 tbsp parmesan cheese (grated)
½ cup croutons (readily available in shops these days)
Salt and pepper
Method
Prepare the marinade for the chicken by mixing the oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and pepper. Keep aside 1/3 of the marinade in the fridge. Pour the remaining marinade on the chicken and marinate for at least an hour. Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix the lettuce and cheese and refrigerate until serving time. Cook the chicken in a grill or on a heavy bottomed pan for around 5 minutes on each side, lightly coating it with the marinade at intervals. Once the chicken has cooled, cut crosswise into ½ inch strips and add it and the croutons to the lettuce mixture. Drizzle the marinade kept aside, mix well and serve. Some restaurants use mayonnaise, but if you are watching your weight, don’t use it.

Healthy snacks are a hit with those who prefer being in shape. We ask model and Grasim Mr India contestant Mubeen Qureshi about his favourite healthy snack and eating habits. “Being a model, I know the importance of eating the right kind of food and its direct impact on my fitness and physique. I follow a routine that includes five light meals a day and hence, snacks are a must for me. Here’s an easy recipe for fitness freaks that I learnt from my mom. It is made from seviyan (vermicelli). It is easy to cook, healthy and can be eaten anytime,” says Mubeen.

Seviyan Pulao

Ingredients:
250 gm seviyan (thin vermicelli)
3 cups of water
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/3 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lime juice
1/3 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 green chilli, slit
4 tsp oil
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
Coriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and fry the seviyan till brown. Keep aside. Clean the pan and add the remaining oil and fry the chopped onions till brown. Add the ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, turmeric, red chilli powder, lime juice and salt and cook till the tomatoes are done and the oil separates. Add water. When the sauce is boiling, add the fried seviyan and cook till the liquid dries. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and green chilli and serve.