Independence Day Special: #GetFitIndia - Healthy Versus Unhealthy Lifestyle, What's Your Choice?

'Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.' ? Winston S. Churchill What's it going to be people - freedom from flab or free flow of fat? Take your pick for we have only two choices to offer. After all there is no middle ground between healthy and unhealthy.

Be a Couch Potato or Be Active: Stop your obsession with the idiot box. Ditch your couch, overcome the laziness and say hello to an energetic new you.

Go out and take a walk for 30 minutes or just add to your routine some dance. #MyFit100Days experts suggest walking daily for half-n-hour can make a huge difference in your fitness goals. For a 130-pound person (58 Kilos), walking at a moderate pace like taking your dog out for a walk can help burn 60 to 70 calories per half-hour or 120 to 140 calories per hour. For a 200-pound person (90 kilos), it burns 90 to 100 calories per half-hour or 180 to 200 calories per hour. Calories burnt sitting on a couch - Zero, weight added - keep counting! Read: 5 Exercise Tips You'll Love

Add or Subtract Good Foods to Your Diet: Let's get the facts straight - One can't lose weight quickly by going on ‘Fad Diets' or not eating food at all. #MyFit100Days experts suggest starving can do more harm to your body than good. Many studies have shown that if a person eats irregular meals, like only once a day, it impairs their glucose tolerance and nibbles away their metabolism.

'Adding in right food really works, taking away never does," says dietitian David Grotto, RD, LDN, author of 101 Optimal Life Foods. Add in healthy treats you really love - There's no harm in saying yes to good-for-you cherries, juicy grapes, or some crunchy cereals. Read Ask the Experts: What Carbs to Eat and What to Avoid

Skip Breakfast or Give a Boost to Your Day?: There should be no second thoughts about the fact that whether you should be eating your breakfast or not. A study at University of Bath's Department of Health suggests that people who eat breakfast burn more calories and have tighter control on their blood sugar levels.

According to the American Dietetic Association, people who eat breakfast have an easier time focusing and are more productive throughout the morning than people who skip breakfast. Need more reasons? Skipping breakfast can worsen Glycemic levels (it is a number associated with a particular type of food that indicates the food's effect on a person's blood glucose) in Type 2 Diabetes patients. Read: Here's What You Should Be Eating For Breakfast

Stairs Versus Lift or Escalators: Stop making excuses that you don't have time to hit the gym! What you can do is take the stairs instead of elevators or office lift. Why it's good for you - Climbing stairs is good for your heart. It can lower your bad cholesterol levels and can raise your good cholesterol levels.

Sedentary Work Routine or an Active One: Suddenly if you are seeing a bulge around your belly then maybe sitting at your desk for long hours is a cause. Sitting at a desk reduces your energy as your body's major muscle groups aren't being utilized and calorie burning is minimized.

Solution - Try getting up after every half-n-hour. Take a walk to the water cooler or get yourself some fresh air. May be even adjust your workstation in a way to facilitate standing and working at regular intervals.

Stop having food at your desk, go out take a break. When you mindlessly gobble down your lunch while you are busy doing something else, like working, then you don't fully register what you have just eaten or how much you have eaten. You may end up consuming more calories than required.

Doing Workout Vs Skipping Workout: Exercising helps reduce bad bulges from your body, improves your mood, boosts energy and fights against many diseases.

The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore! #MyFit100Days experts suggest one should never skip their warm-ups and cool downs. Why? A proper warm-up and cool down avoid injuries and increase the pace of the workout. Do dynamic stretching during warm up and static stretching while you are cooling down. Read: Shape Up: Top 8 No-Equipment Exercises You Can Do at Home

Be an Early Bird Vs Be a Night Owl: As the old saying goes, "Early to bed early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise!" Going to bed on time and waking up early can help you shrink your waistline. Studies have shown that insufficient amount of sleep can enhance hedonic stimulus processing in our brain. This makes you crave for food at odd hours and as a result your food intake increases.

#MyFit100Days expert suggestions - Try and sleep at 11:00 PM and wake up at 7:00 AM and feel the difference. One will feel more energetic through the day. This is because you will get 8 hours of beauty sleep - your brain cells remain active and body cycle stays in the right position. Read: Sleep and Weight Loss: What's the Connection?

Staying Hydrated Vs Dehydrated: Did you know that even a minor drop in hydration status of our body can result in cells not functioning properly, resulting in slower metabolism, energy drain and lethargy? If lately you are feeling bloated or your digestion is poor, then maybe the cause is low intake of water. Optimum hydration helps in maintaining muscle mass as muscles carry 90% of water.

Solution: Aim to increase your water intake by 3 litres daily, it's not necessary for you to drink water only; you can meet the daily liquid requirement by choosing healthy fluids like coconut water, fresh home-made juices, lemonade, buttermilk, vegetable juice and vegetable soup. Read:The Importance of Water in Your Diet

Bunk the Junk Or Embrace it: No matter how good these may taste, never say yes to French fries, fried chicken, pancakes and other traditional fried dishes as these are loaded with trans-fat and are often crowned as high-cholesterol foods.

What else you need to ditch - samosas, butter, products with animal fats, fish oil, cheese, processed foods - basically anything which is deep fried. All the fried foods contain bad fats called the Saturated fats which directly raise your total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels; therefore it is advisable to avoid it as much as you can. Read: Easy Tips on Giving Up Junk Food

Causes of Early Death - Smoking, Use of Tabacco Products and Excessive Drinking: Despite smoking being recognized as the third biggest health risk for Indians, in the last 30 years number of smokers in India has increased by 35 million. According to the recent figures from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, coordinated by IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation), use of tobacco products has led to nearly one million deaths and significant health loss in India.

What are the ill effects of smoking & drinking on the body?
a. When you drink and smoke excessively, you increase your chances of getting high blood pressure.
b. Smoking lowers the levels of "good" cholesterol in your body - HDL.
c. Heavy drinking can cause severe damages to your liver, which is needed by the body to break down fat; the liver also helps purify the blood.

Next Up on Our Independence Day Special #GetFitIndia Series: 10 Food Swaps to Make You Healthier