It is not hidden that an inactive lifestyle in vitiligo adds to stress, which ultimately contributes to an outbreak of vitiligo. While coming out of a vicious stress cycle takes time, obesity doesn’t have to be a coping issue during your vitiligo journey.
Sometimes, the simplest change can have a positive effect on our vitiligo. Whether you’re trying to prevent vitiligo from spreading or simply looking after your weight, a balanced healthy diet is a great place to start with.
What to include, what to avoid
The immediate step towards getting into healthy diet is to first cut on junk and embrace lifestyle changes like timely eating, incorporating smaller meals with main meals and including fluids in the diet.
Proteins and vitamins are essential blocks of a healthy mind and body. Hence, to make your body function well, consume enough essential nutrients in your everyday diet. To make sure your diet doesn’t get boring, bring variety to your diet.
Include
- Lean protein (nuts, lean meats, beans, and lentils)
- Green vegetables and fruits (make Avocados and Grapefruit your best friends)
- Whole grains and complex carbohydrates (whole wheat, brown rice, and barley)
- Good fat (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, and olive oil)
- Yogurt
- Green tea
- Oats
Avoid
- Processed and refined grains (white bread, pasta, and rice)
- Processed refined sugar
- Processed refined salt.
- Aerated and sweetened beverages (like soda).
- Red meat
What to have in the most important meal of the day
Eating a healthy breakfast keeps you full throughout the day and thus helps you make better meal choices. Ideally, a healthy breakfast should contain protein, fruits, whole grains or vegetables. Eggs, whole-grain bread, oatmeal, yogurt, juices are some of the options of a healthy breakfast.
But, if you like fruits, you can start your day with a ‘Fruitful Morning’. Fruits when taken empty stomach detoxify and energize your body. Have sufficient quantity of different kinds of fruits. Ensure that apple and strawberry are there to work as anti-oxidants, watermelon to act as the immunity strengthening agent for your body, guava and papaya to give the necessary dose of Vitamin C.
The natural sugar in fruits breaks down as glucose in the body. To keep the body glucose level optimum, draw the fine line between the required and the excess.
8 Dos and Don’ts of Healthy Dieting
- Make breakfast and lunch your main and dinner the lightest meal of the day. Have dinner as early as possible and eat less at night.
- When under stress in vitiligo, avoid highly spiced food, coffee, and tea in excess.
- Have at least 8 to ten glasses of water in a day.
- Read food labels for calories and other nutrients and serving size.
- Avoid going hungry to stop the urge for unhealthy junk food. Keep healthy snacks handy for times when you get hungry.
- Avoid cereals at dinner time.
- Drink in moderation and avoid beer.
- A medical checkup is advised before undertaking any diet plan. Add vitamin and calcium supplements after consulting your doctor.