Graceful living

Everything around us contributes to pushing us towards unhealthy existence. Starting from food which is pesticide laden and with high glycaemic index (population; food crisis, resorting to more production instead of quality of production), to digital addiction – almost inevitable, to time crunch for physical and mental exercise, to stressful life, to slippery tiles affecting our Gait leading to knee injury, to bumpy roads leading to passive and slow spinal injury, to unnecessary competition around. The list is long but will stop here, as I think I have made my point.

Now there are two parts here, controllable and non-controllable. Non-controllable being food, stress, digital usage, tiles, etc. By non-controllable what I mean is the realm on which we really do not have control and are inevitable. To give you an example -food, you really cannot be sure of the source of what`s on your plate. How healthy it is, unless you are living an isolated life, at a farm with poultry and cattle. Now this is a privilege only for few. 

You can`t really get rid of slippery tiles from modern houses. Stress, weather work, home, environmental, of stress due to overthinking is also inevitable. The source of stress may be visible or not visible. Physical stress, mental stress, existential stress, competitive stress and more. These are all inevitable whether you acknowledge it or not,

Whereas the list of controllables is small but very profound but has exponential effect. Controllables – Physical exercise, Mental exercise and supplements with regular health check-ups. 

Physical exercise – Regular 30-40 minutes of some form of physical activity is more than sufficient to stimulate your metabolism.  

Myth 1 – I am walking for an hour every day for last 10 years; I still have pain in my joints, I am prediabetic, and other parameters are also off the chart 

 – Same format of exercise for a long period does two things 

             1. Makes your body used to the format, there is no physical challenge and there is no change in metabolism post 3-4 months of doing the same thing. 

             2. Over-uses the same muscle, most people with regular walking habit will complain of knee pain, and ankle stiffness, as they have overused this muscles. 

The concept is to keep changing the format every 3-4 months to ensure that you are adequately using all your muscles. Pick up what-ever is comfortable to you. Jogging, running, dancing, yoga, ashtanga yoga, weight training, cycling, swimming, sports, etc.

Myth 2 – We need to exercise daily 

             –  3-4 days of exercise of 30-40 mins per week is more than sufficient. Doing it daily will not harm, it is your choice, but for most people the target of exercising 7 days a week becomes a daunting task and the fear of failing on the number of days inhibits then from initiating the activity.

Mental exercise –

Brain gym-ing is more important than physical gym-ing. The detailed explanation will come in following write-ups and videos. For now you can just trust me on this. Regular brain challenging activities are very important. Activities like solving a crossword, sudoku, puzzles, jigsaw puzzles (they have a whole lot of benefit, which I will be sharing with you eventually) and more or of utmost importance. Learning a new skill set on regular basis at every age has immense importance in overall well-being. We will elaborate on this segment with time. 

Supplements – 

Our diets are not whole, are habits are not whole, deficiencies are inevitable, micro deficiencies lead to irreversible damage. Regular testing for Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Mg, Mn play instrumental role in preventive health care. However this is just the introduction, subsequent write ups will give you an in-depth detail and understanding, even if you are not from research or medical background.

Caution 

One of the things that I would like to highlight here is don’t pick up approach that you will not be able to do indefinitely. 
Starting with fad diets, it disturbs your core metabolism, it confuses your brain and your body and leads to irreversible detrimental effects. There is no such things as zero carbohydrate or zero sugar diet.

Do not suddenly start an extreme fitness journey of making 6 pack abs in 4 months. Don’t push your-self without being ready for it.Don’t over works your heart muscles, allow it time to strengthen. I mean what`s the hurry? Every fat or extremely skinny person is not un-healthy and doesn’t really need to lose or gain wait.

Fitness is a life long journey, done with balance and practical approach. 

There is a lot to write, but there is only so much we can absorb in one read. Let`s catch up again for anecdotes, research and taking our step towards preventive health care so as to age gracefully and disease free.