“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”COCO CHANEL, FASHION DESIGNER 03LIFESTYLE

winter fitnessYour

guide

Healthy Habitsfor cold months

HEALTH & FITNESS

COLD MONTHS MAY MAKE YOU FEEL LAZY BUT IT ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A GREATTIME TO BEGIN OR GET YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS ROUTINE IN ORDER

It’s not easy to leave ourcozy and warm blanketson a chilly winter morn-ing and go for a walk orhead to the gym. At that

time of the day, we all tend toforget our workout and fitnesspriorities just for the sake ofsleeping an extra hour. Whiledoing this once in a while isokay, but making it an every-day affair can sabotage yourfitness and health goals. To getmotivation to stay fit in thisrough weather, check theseways that will help you get outof the blanket to stay healthy,happy and well-toned.

FIND A WORKOUT BUDDYYour friend or sibling can also help to keep youmotivated. They will keep pushing you to stayactive and fit. You can also join a running club or adance class with your workout buddy. Doing this,will reduce your chances of skipping the workout.

TAKE UP NEW ACTIVITIESRepeating the same exercises every daycan be boring and make it difficult for

you to stay motivated. Tobreak the monotony, sign upfor new activities. Joindance or martial artsclasses to keep the sparkalive. You can also takepart in marathons or

cycling events beingheld in your city.

TRY INDOOR WORKOUTIf you do not feel like going outduring cold wave conditions, exer-cise inside your home. To stayactive, you don’t always needcomplicated equipment. The ideais to move your body to burncalories and tone your muscles.You can do yoga, mat pilates andcan even try simple exercisesusing a chair in your house.

WRITE DOWN WHY YOUARE DOING ITThe key rule to stay motivated isto write it down. Take a piece ofpaper and write down why youare doing it. Stick it somewherenear your bed. So, when you wakeup, you can easily see this.Psychologistsbelieve that it iseasier for you tostay motivatedand positive ifyou note downyour aims andobjectivesomewhere.

To get yourshare of vitamin D,

which is crucial for bonehealth and overall well-

being, spend at least 15-20 minutes in the

sun daily

AVOID HOT WATER SHOWERSTaking a hot shower may keep youwarm but it can strip moisture fromhair and skin. We know that a hot waterbath can be relaxing and soothing, butit can also prove to be damaging to theskin. To avoid this, stick to lukewarmwater baths. Choose creamy bath washover foaming gels in winter.

SIP WARM WATERIt’s a no brainer that keeping yourselfhydrated is the masterkey to robusthealth and great skin. Ditch plain coolwater and have warm water in cold

winter months – it soothes throatand is good for digestion too.

INCREASE INTAKE OF VITAMIN CIncrease the intake of vitamin C in your diet. It helps

boost the body’s production of collagen – a protein thatmaintains skin health and keeps acne and blemishes atbay. Foods rich in vitamin C are oranges, kiwis, broccoli,spinach, radish, amla (gooseberry). TNN

CHOOSE JAGGERY OVER SUGAR

Jaggery helps fight pollu-tion and is a good alterna-tive to sugar. Pick jaggery-based desserts like chikki,

jaggery tilkut, jaggery and til laddoos to cutdown your sugarintake while indulgingin sweet treats.

Having an amla(gooseberry) a day,

keeps cold and cough atbay. Chop it into small

pieces, sprinkle some saltand peppercorn, and have

it through the day toboost your immunity

FESTIVE TREND

Come December, and it’s time forcarols, plum cakes and Christmastrees. Also, pretty candles, fra-grance of cinnamon and gin-gerbread, shiny red and greenballs, pine cones and thefriendly Santa. To add some spunk and variation to thisstandard festive adornment, here aresome creative and funDIY decor tips

PAINT PINECONES: Collectreal pine conesand wash them.Let them dryin the sun fora day or twoand paint themin bright

colours or in gold/silver tones. Hangthese cones with colourful strings onthe christmas tree or at the entranceof your home or in the garden area.

DIY

SNOWBALL WREATH: This is one ofthe easiest Christmas DIY you can tryat home. Collect the thermocol balls indifferent sizes and stick around thewreath in random order. Tie up a bigred ribbon bow to finish the look.

TOOTHPICK STARS:Get innovative andcreate thisinteresting starmade of tooth-picks. For thisyou would needa white thermocolball and a few tooth-picks. Poke in the toothpicksinside the thermocol ball uneven-ly. Keep a difference in theirlength too. Now, paint the struc-ture in silver or golden or incolours you like and let them dry.Hang them from the ceiling tolend that Christmas festive lookto your home.

CINNAMON GLASS CANDLES: The fragrance of cinnamon always reminds of

Christmas time and sticking themaround the candle holders is a greatway to keep your house smelling good.All you need to do is to stick the

cinnamon sticks around the glass candleholders with glue and tie a ribbon aroundto make it look celebratory. TNN

STRAW SUN: This is an interesting activityfor kids and adults alike. Get a craft ringand cover it with a floral paper from thefront. Fold and glue the sides so that it iseasier to take the decoration off the ringlater. Now crop half of the count of strawsinto a shorter length. Stick the longerstraws and shorter straws alternatively onthe sides of the ring; they should looklike the rays of the sun in a drawing.After completing the straw sun, stick aribbon at the back of the craft ring so

that you can hang it.

Christmasdecoration ideas

Out of the box:stick apples,grapes, straw-berries in awreath or in agarland to beused as an off-beat decor style

DESSERT RECIPE

For the forthcoming Christmas week, trythis wholesome and healthy cake. Here’s the recipe. Merry Christmas!

INGREDIENTS1 cup whole wheat flour3/4 teaspoonbaking powder3/4 cup refined oil1 cup grated carrot1/2 cup chopped

walnuts1/2 tablespoonbaking soda1/2 teaspoon salt3/4 cup honey1/2 cup crushedpineapple2 cup egg, beaten

HOW TO MAKESTEP 1: Combine allthe dry ingredients(whole wheat flour,baking powder, baking

soda and salt) in alarge bowl.

STEP 2: Then addrefined oil, honeyalong with eggs in the

same bowl and mix well. Stirin the remaining ingredients.

STEP 3: Bake this mix in twogreased 9-inch cake layer pansfor 35 to 40 minutes at 350degree Celsius.

STEP 4: Cool the pans for afew minutes, then remove thecake from pans and let it coolcompletely on wire rack.

STEP 5: You can also bake thisin a 9x13 pan as a sheet cakeand enjoy the dessert. TNN

HEALTHYCARROT CAKE

Carrot is rich in vitamin Aand C – both crucial forboosting immunity andpreventing infections

MUST SEE

■ THE WILD SIDE, NAT GEO WILD, 3.00 PM:Experts and researchers analyse thebehavioural characteristics, tactics andweapons that wild animals use to fightfor their survival.

■ MONKEY WEEK, ANIMAL PLANET, 5.00PM: Patrick Aryee examines the NewWorld monkeys from Central andSouth America and their evolutionaryjourney dating back more than 40 million years.

■ YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, DISCOVERYCHANNEL, 7.00 PM: Various people usescientific principles to do unbelievablethings, from balancing a digger on logsto using a paper chain to lift dumbbells.

■ WILDLIFE: ANIMAL SUPERPOWERS, NA-TIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL, 8.00 PM:Patrick Stewart unravels some of themysteries of wild animals that are gifted with secret superpowers and explains how they manage to survivein critical conditions.

■ HIDDEN INDIA, SONY BBC EARTH HD,9.00 PM: India has amazing variety oflandscapes filled with diverse life allover the subcontinent.

1843: Charles Dickens' "A ChristmasCarol" was first published.

1848: Emily Brontë, English novelist,died of tuberculosis.

1854: Allen Wilson of Connecticut,US, patented the sewing machine tosew curving seams.

1941: Adolf Hitler took completecommand of the German Army.

1950: Tibet's Dalai Lama fledChinese invasion.

1972: Apollo 17 splashed down in thePacific, ending the Apollo program ofmanned lunar landings.

1978: Indira Gandhi was expelledfrom the Lok Sabha for contemptand imprisoned.

1984: Britain and China signed anaccord returning Hong Kong toChinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

2007: The Lakotah people, a NativeAmerican tribe, proclaimed inde-pendence and withdrew all theirtreaties with the United States.

2018: First use of a drone to delivervaccines to the island of Erromango,Vanuatu, by Unicef.

THIS DAY THAT YEARTELEVISION

■ PETER PAN, &FLIX, 3.05 PM: In the early 1900s in London, the Darling sib-lings receive a visit from Peter Pan,who transports them to Never NeverLand to help in a fight against the evilCaptain Hook.

■ DESPICABLE ME 2, SONY PIX SD, 6.54PM: When a new criminal comes totown, the Anti-Villain League decidesto hire Gru in order to fight him off.While Gru initially refuses, he even-tually agrees after his aide goes backto his evil ways.

■ ALADDIN, MOVIES NOW, 7.15 PM: Aladdin, a common thief, falls in lovewith Princess Jasmine, but cannotmarry her as he is not a prince. Jafer,royal vizier with a hidden agenda, enlists Aladdin's help to retrieve a magical lamp.

■ IP MAN, WB, 9.00 PM: During the warbetween China and Japan, a Japaneseofficial notices Ip Man, a Wing Chunexpert, and his skills. He asks him totrain the Japanese in the art of WingChun for self-defence.

MOVIES ON TV

MUST DODECEMBER19, 2019

Photo: Getty Images