Think Before Eating Leftovers

Are you one of those who help themselves with left-overs with the good intention of not wasting your family's hard earned money, without thinking of your weight management?

Then you will be doing grave injustice to your own body and making it ugly. You might have to pay too many visits to the doctor and then to the pharmacy.

Do you want to be such an obese person? Obesity is a condition in which there is an excessive amount of body fat. It is the most common nutritional disorder.

The excessive fat is usually gained by the imbalance between energy intake and its use. It is prevalent among middle aged people, but can occur in any age group.

Festival and social gatherings are a part of our lives and very often we tend to increase the calorie intake during these occasions. Besides, these days the number of people regularly dining in the hotels is also increasing because of their lack of time to cook at home and their affordability. Overeating at social functions and family gatherings also contribute to some extent, towards gaining weight.

There are many serious problems which arise because of obesity.It can cause hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases and many other problems.

It is always better to reduce weight by exercising regularly and consuming the required amount of healthy food, than using "slimming foods" or "slimming tablets" for weight reduction.It will be nice to remember the old saying - "Prevention is better than cure".

It has been calculated that an hour's walk ( 3 miles per hour) will expend about 240 calories or more for a heavy person. When it becomes a daily routine 10 kgs can be reduced annually.

Regular exercise improves the fitness of obese people and their quality of life.

Shalu, my firend, does not waste the food that is remaining after the family has had meals and helps herself with it.

She does not realise how much extra calaries she is consuming in the process.

If a person eats a slice of bread (28g) ine excess each day or goes by a vehicle
instead of walking for 15 minutes the extra 60 kcal gained daily will build up over a period of four years to 10 kilos of fat deposit in the system, says a medical book.

I reminded Shalu of the extra kilos she is putting on when she mentioned about the medication she was subjected to for problems of blood pressure.

Being a very good cook she enjoys cooking and feeding her family and also her guests. Any time you drop into her house food is not a problem. The only sad thing is that she consumes all the leftovers.

But I really don't know why she cooks more than the quantity her family requires. She takes pride in the fact that she always keeps tasty food ready at home.

"How do you manage with the leftovers?" Shalu wanted to know.

"First of all I cook only how much my family actually requires. Secondly, after food is kept on the table my family members serve for themselves. They can take any number of helpings and this method is followed even for our guests. Thus food is not wasted in the plate. In spite of all this, if there are left overs I call the cleaning woman of our apartments to take it to her home. In any case, I will make sure that I will not stuff myself with the extra food and that can contribute towards my gaining weight," explained a friend.

While another friend Rohini goes a step further. She doesn't mind cooking a little less than the required quantity and eating fruits.

The refrigerator at her place is always stuffed with fruits. But she will not waste a bit. And if there are left overs she prepares a dish out of them and feeds her whole family.

Malathy is a housewife who usually ensures that she does not cook more than what is required by her family. If at all there are left overs she heats it the next day or prepares a new dish with the leftovers.

None of her family members recognizes that the new dish was made out of leftovers. Her husband appreciates her for training their children to serve food for themselves at the dining table. Malathi asks her family members before serving them with food and this is appreciated by them.

One of secrets of her maid-servant staying with her since a long time is that Malathi serves her always with fresh food and not stale or leftover food. "What I can't eat I wouldn't like to give it to my servant", says Malathi.

"If there is more quantity of food left at home after a festival or a function, I send the food to some orphanage, and never try to use the leftover food keeping at home for few days, to use them," says another friend, who often gets guests at home and has a number of functions and festivals being in a joint family.

It is not advisable to help oneself with leftover food just for the sake of completing it, or don't want to see it going waste. If you prevent yourself from doing so you will be doing a great favour to your own body which in turn helps in preventing unnecessary hospital bills and the tension for your family members.

if you don't want to waste the food a little imagination can go a long way in making use of the leftovers in a proper way. Delicious dishes can also be made using left-overs.


Getting rid of the extra pounds in your body is thousand times harder than altering your eating habits. The food might be very tasty and tempting. But once you feel you're almost full it is always better to say "no".

So the next time you help yourself with leftovers decide whether you are doing the right thing for yourself and for your family.