Eat your way to good grades

Hyderabad: If you’re preparing for competitive exams, it is likely that you might be skipping meals and are munching on unhealthy snacks like chips and soft drinks. You must know that there’s a higher chance for you to prepare well and crack tough exams if you are following a proper meal schedule and are focusing on eating healthy. Satish Varma, a well-known nutritionist from Hyderabad, shares some tricks to eat your way to good grades.
Skip snacking

According to nutritionists around the world, when the stomach is empty is when the brain can grasp a lot of information. So, one must eat moderately – either two or three meals a day. Avoid snacking in between meals because the moment you put something in your stomach, your neurons start activating the hormones that help in digesting the food. It’s not good to keep your stomach active throughout the day as the walls of the stomach will be bombarded with acids. If you keep eating and snacking five-six times in a day, these acids will become weak and that’s when you will be affected with acidity and discomfort.

You can eat dry fruits or healthy ladoos after your breakfast or dinner, instead of snacking in between your meals.

Eat before sunset

Those preparing for competitive exams must make sure to eat in limited quantities but in a timely manner. It will be ideal to finish your last meal of the day before 6 pm. Once your stomach is empty, the energies produced and stored will be ready to be used. When you start reading then, the energy flow will be to your brain instead of your stomach. This is the best way to avoid feeling sleepy and lazy.

Eat fresh

Students must eat loads of fresh fruits and vegetables because they will take less energy to digest but produce more energy. The more you eat cooked and processed food like pizzas and burgers, the more time it will take to metabolise. Avoid polished rice and opt for brown rice and millets. For breakfast, replace upmas with ragi java as it promotes a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
You can feel refreshed with fresh fruit juices and herbal and green teas as well. It is suggested that one consumes at least 50 per cent of a day’s food completely raw. The higher the percentage is, the better you can concentrate.