It is that time of the year – the beginning – when we make several resolutions, only to give up within a few short weeks! Shall we change that this year 2013? Let me begin by saying ‘Cheers’ on the arrival of another new year and the chance to get it right this time! So what does it take to stick to our new year resolve to get fit for the next 52 weeks till the next new year?
We are always in search of a quick fix solution. Ten simple ways to stay healthy, most easy to follow fitness routine, a diet that will positively work to shed those extra kilos, a guaranteed workout to keep us trim… When are we going to mature enough to understand that when it takes 272 days to create a human body that works miraculously to keep us alive with every one of the hundred trillion cells working in unison, it is going to take a little more than ten tips to achieve lasting health! We are not a commodity to achieve standardization. Very often, because we have unrealistic time frames, we give up too soon. The idea is to stick to our resolution irrespective of the results we see in the first few weeks.
We are a living organism that is constantly interacting with several physical, chemical, emotional, electromagnetic, thermal and spiritual stressors to maintain harmony. There are no quick fix permanent solutions to staying fit. There are dynamic principles that need to be adhered every living moment to stay healthy. Here are my six pointers to help your journey in healthy living during 2013…
1. Calorie counts: Your body is not a profit and loss statement of income versus expenditure. It is not about the number of calories expended during exercise and activity versus calorie intakes at meals. It is about nutrition. Just as how a diesel car will not run on petrol, if the food you eat is not converted into energy by your body, you are not providing enough fuel to run the machine! You will not spend your money extravagantly when there is an economic slow down, would you? Similarly, your body will not burn the stored up fat when it feels threatened with limited food availability. Storing fat is the body’s way of saving for the future. Further, the ‘synthetic’ foods we eat so often these days are not usable by our body. This causes more stress in terms of nutrition than providing energy, which if you recall, is the main purpose of eating. Forget the calories. Remember every morsel you eat costs the body if it is not real food convertible into energy. Forget diet. Think nutrition.
2. Walking exercise: Wonder why a lion never updates it’s ‘status’ with ‘5 km run today’. Every muscle in our body was designed for movement. Walking, climbing stairs, squatting, lunging, pushing objects, pulling things, carrying stuff, bending to pick up from the floor, twisting around to reach – all these are not really exercise. These are basic movements you are expected to do with your body. So time to understand that walking, and all of the above, is something you need to do everyday just like how you brush your teeth, comb your hair and have a bath. If you haven’t begun even a daily walk, it most certainly is the right time to begin. If you do walk regularly, time to incorporate a real structured exercise regime for improved health benefits. Remember, you don’t play a sport to exercise, you exercise to play better!
3. Desktop workout: Most certainly our survival skills have moved from needing to be physically strong to intellectually capable in today’s world. But hey! We have forgotten! Without this physical body, our intellectual skills don’t really count. So despite the need to stay glued in front of the computer screen, we have to ‘treat’ our body with a little exercise and movement – not 3 times a week or even once every day. But on a hourly basis! Flex those shoulders, stretch your limbs, relax your neck muscles, bend over to touch your toes and most importantly, jump around and skip to remind your heart to beat a little faster occasionally. An even beat always can become boring and predictable.
4. Straight Back: Those awful braces that the dentist wanted you to wear in your teens had a constant pressure of about 1/2 a gram! Oh! What a pain they were for such a small pressure. And yet they were capable of changing your entire dental structure. Imagine the kind of pressure your muscles must be going through when you fail to stay in alignment with gravity. A one inch head tilt forward will dramatically double the weight of the head on your neck. Every mis-aligned posture is going to harm your entire kinetic chain. Time to take heed of those simple commands from your mom – sit up and look straight!
5. Tummy tuck: Can you list the organs in your body? If you just mentally did, you will agree most of them are in your abdominal region. That is quite a space restriction, don’t you think? Ever wondered what keeps those organs in place? Your abdominal muscles, in gym parlance your core. The real official tummy tuck provided by your creator is your ab muscles – the Transverse Abdominis or TA. These act like a belt holding the organs in place. Unfortunately most people forget to keep these muscles active. With inaction, they loose their tension and like an over stretched rubber band begin to let things hang out – like a pot belly. Learning to activate your TA must be the first thing you learn and implement in your fitness routine. And if you don’t have one, (fitness regime I mean), time to at least learn how to keep your tummy tucked in always.
6. Delicate balance: Try standing on one leg. I am sure many of you can do it. Now try the same with your eyes closed. Be honest – where you able to do it? Kudos if you were for a minimum of 30 seconds. Your muscles not only provide movement, they also provide stability. If your eyes need to be open always for stability, chances are your muscles are not really doing their job. They are relying more on the visual cues. Most immobility issues are related to stability problems. Better get them sorted out young and early by training your muscles to the delicate art of balance and stability.
My six tips are done. But you know what? I have decided to give you a bonus tip – probably the most crucial among everything said so far.
You got to breathe to stay alive. Have you ever asked where the oxygen you inhale actually needs to go? Yes that is right – every one of the hundred trillion cells in your body. So what happens when we don’t breathe right? More and more people are suffering from shallow breathing, not able to fill in enough oxygen to last long enough till the next breath! I wonder how this ancient Indian culture that gave so much importance to Pranayama today stands on the verge of forgetting its importance. Our breath rate (number of inhalations per minute) has gone up so drastically, that today we need to reset our standards as every one is highly stressed always.
Every time someone asks me ‘how about a detox’ I explain to them if only you can breathe correctly, that is exactly what your body is doing on a minute by minute basis – detox or more simply put removing the toxic wastes. Even if you don’t follow anything else I have suggested, I really wish, for your own sake, you will learn to breathe properly. As the ancient saying goes, with every inhalation you truly are reborn!
Our breath also teaches us a very important lesson on life – retain the usable and eliminate the unusable. Here is wishing you and your loved ones a year of health and fitness in every one of the 70 million cells, during every one of the hundred trillion chemical reactions that happen every second, inhaling life and exhaling the negatives in every one of the
7.3 million breaths you will take during 2013… Happy living !
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in Food & Health in January 2013
