Our immune system and overall well-being is dependent not only on good diet and exercise but also on our mental strength and our thoughts. A lot depends on the way we talk to ourselves when we are in trouble. Many times when we are in an adversity, the images, thoughts and beliefs that run in our mind can determine a win or defeat at the end.
There are numerous cases where people recovered from many health conditions just by believing that they were given an advanced medication while they were given a sugar pill without their knowledge. This is the power of human mind and belief. Scientific term for this phenomenon is ‘Placebo effect’.
This is how any nutraceutical or pharmaceutical product’s effectiveness is scientifically tested, researched and analyzed. They give few people the real medicine and few people a fake pill. After a while they analyze if the results of taking the actual medicine is better than that of the people taking fake pill. There are some cases where the placebo effect dominated or equalized the results of the real medicine.
Means just the strong belief of taking a powerful medicine itself healed many people who in fact took a fake medicine (sugar pill).
The same is true for the exact opposite as well and it is called ‘Nocebo effect’. No matter what drug we take or healthy lifestyle we follow if we believe and think that there is no hope, nothing is going to save us, we don’t have the power to fight back, then our immune system weakens internally. The moment we are fearful, nervous, stressful, anxious and believe in negative information, we tend to lose hope and get depressed. This lowers strength of our immune system in our body. In the absence of a strong immune system, any kind of external microbes like virus or bacteria can spread faster and can cause more infection then usual circumstances.
What can you do in tough and difficult times
Have faith, have hope, have belief, have trust.
Do the best you could to strengthen yourself physically and mentally.
Eat healthy food, have some physical exercise and movement, take enough rest by sleeping well and take nutritional supplements in optimum dosages.
Strongly believe that you have the ability to fight and come out victorious .
Expose yourself to positive news and information. Avoid negativity and fake news.
Watch, listen to something that makes you optimistic about future and motivates you to do better.
Involve yourself in activities that gives you positive energy.
Help and support others in which ever way you can.
Be critical, realistic and scientific in your thinking as there is a lot of misinformation outside.
Be a pillar of strength to your family and community instead of spreading fear.
Pray for all those people who are providing their selfless services during tough times.
As some great person said
“Do the best you could do with what you have and where you are. Be resourceful rather than looking out for resources. Believe and stand for something in life so that you do not fall for anything“
Supplement (Noun) – A thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it.
Supplement (Verb) – Add an extra element or amount to.
As it is suggested in the word ‘Supplement’ itself, Nutritional supplements are used in addition to the natural food that we eat to enhance or improve the food’s effect. Hence, these are ‘supplementary’ and they cannot be used to replace our poor dietary habits, lack of exercise, irregular sleeping habits and also negative attitudes.
Let us say that a person has a proper lifestyle like having regular exercise, eating healthy, minimum stress and good sleeping habits. Now, can this person consider that this lifestyle in itself is enough for long term healthy existence. The answer to this is “may be enough or may be not” and depends on a lot of intricacies. Of course it depends on the each of our backgrounds, priorities, economic capability, our values, lifestyle etc., Optimum health is not being just disease free but it is having a life of vitality and strength. It is a choice again what we want in life and it varies for all of us.
Of course, one can survive without using any supplements and I am not saying that we cannot live without them. In fact, majority of the people still do not have any awareness of benefits of nutritional supplements and have more belief in pharmaceutical drugs/medicines which have a lot of side effects.
Nutritional supplementation can make a dramatic impact on our health and quality of life when done right.
Many nutritional supplements have been proven to prevent or support the treatment of different kinds of disorders and diseases when combined with a good diet, exercise and resting schedule. Supplementation aids in controlling many lifestyle disorders like high cholesterol/triglycerides, auto-immune diseases, inflammation, balancing blood glucose and pressure, ageing related health issues, cancer and many more.
Ideally a whole food diet should provide all the nutrients for our optimum health, but there are whole host of environmental and lifestyle factors that would negatively impact the nutrient availability. Compared to our previous generations, it makes it harder for us to have such kind of well nourished foods. Even if a person is diligent enough to eat a healthy organic diet, it is difficult to prepare such meals three to four times a day which covers all essential nutrients every single day, given our busy lives. Let us assume that in an exceptional case even if someone can eat such variety of foods throughout the day, there are lot of dependencies and variations that could negatively impact the nutrient value of the food. (Which we discuss below)
In these kind of circumstances, it makes sense for us to use appropriate supplementation as per our lifestyle, profession and daily needs. For example, a good quality multivitamin and multimineral capsule would compensate the inconsistencies in essential micro-nutrients in our diet. Another example is, a good quality protein supplement powder could used when we are unable to get right amount of protein from our diet. Of course one has to choose quality supplements based on their profile by taking advice from an experienced nutritionist or Dietician.
Below factors impact the level nutrients in the foods we eat. If not all the them are applicable in all contexts, at least some of them could impact nutrient values one way or the other.
Quality of soil. Soil depletion reduces the nutrient content of crops. Are we using quality fertilizers for cultivating crops.
Impact of Insecticides and pesticides used.
How is the produce stored once getting harvested.
How is the food transported.
How is the produce maintained in the market/stores before we buy.
After we buy them, how long do we store them and where do we store them before we cook.
Do we use good cooking methods.How long do we cook.
Do we follow right eating strategies like chewing the food slowly and eating mindfully.
Once the food reaches our stomach , the nutrient absorption depends on our digestive system’s efficiency and the microbiome in our gut.
Lifestyle issues and habits like stress, smoking and drinking alcohol could additionally deplete nutrition absorption.
Hence, based ones daily activity like workout/exercise intensity, profession, food accessibility and other lifestyle factors it is recommended to take appropriate nutritional supplements from recognized nutraceutical brands preferably with the guidance from an expert.
I have analyzed and summarized the most commonly used ingredients in some of the popular pre-workout supplements along with their individual quantities.
Then I did some research on the effectiveness of these commonly used ingredients. Read through some of the expert’s articles and also some scientific studies on these nutrients.
I recommend below combination of nutrients to be taken 15 to 20 minutes before workout.
Caffeine
Theanine
Beta alanine
Betaine
Taurine (aerobic exercises)
Citrulline
BCAA (2:1:1)
L-Carnitine
Nicotinamide/Niacinamide (Anaerobic)
Vitamin B6
A example combination could be something like this.
Caffeine – 200 to 300 mg
Theanine – 200 mg
Beta alanine – 4 g
Betaine – 1.5 g
Taurine -1
Citrulline – 6 g
BCAA (2:1:1) – 3 g
L-Carnitine – 2 g
Basically, we would find these list of ingredients in different combinations in various pre-workout supplements. Effectiveness of a pre-workout depends on the quality of the ingredients used in right proportions. So look out for these ingredients before buying a pre-workout supplement.
Every year we make resolutions. I believe resolutions should be sustainable and we must be consistent to achieve our resolutions. Nothing wrong in having resolutions but there is an issue if they did not change from last year . So set a realistic resolution that you will not give up no matter what.
When we decide to do it “no matter what happens” that is called Commitment. Commitment makes the real difference between Achievers and Quitters.
I would like to suggest 5 qualities that will improve our lives for sure. I recommend them because I follow them myself and experiencing the benefits.
Be Fit and Eat Healthy
This is the first and foremost trait recommended by top achievers in any field like founders of biggest companies, elite athletes in sports and games or any other high performers. Apart from getting physical benefits like stronger muscles and bones, health benefits, healthy heart etc., It also relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts overall mood. It prevents mental disorders like depression, anxiety, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia at later stages of life. Believe it or not we can consider early morning exercise as a natural brain boosting drug that gives you a high with no side effects. So get addicted to physical fitness , fitness addiction is good for you and it is not illegal .
I assume you all of you know the significance of eating a healthy diet. Just by eating the wrong food, we could negate the benefits we derive out of exercise. The food we eat has a lasting and cumulative effect on our body and mind which could be positive or negative based on the choices we make. So follow a healthy and recommended diet for your body type to realize your full potential.
Finally have a restful and deep sleep. A healthy diet and exercise regime will definitely help but our body needs enough sleep in order to do the housekeeping like repairing damaged tissues and cells, flush out accumulated metabolites/toxins due to various activities. Majority of our body tissue growth and recovery takes place during sleep.
Be Consistent
Consistency is the key factor that would make or break anything we try to achieve. Small insignificant activities done regularly can have a compound effect on our endeavors and this requires patience. It is about being unswerving with our discipline and self-control to make progress steadily. So be consistent in life, build a daily routine and stick with it to enjoy the benefits later. Try to improve daily physically or mentally or emotionally or spiritually.
Be Grateful
Be grateful every day and to everything we have in our lives. Be thankful to our health, family and friends we have, food we have, opportunities we have and more so for being alive in this moment. Gratefulness will make us respect and value what we already have in our lives. By this we never take anything for granted. Feeling grateful would make us see outside of ourselves and allow us to make difference or add value to other’s lives. No wonder all high achievers historically speak about the power of gratitude.
Make No Excuses
If we have to move steadily towards reaching our resolutions, we need to stop making excuses and start grabbing opportunities. I know that we all have some problems, challenges and limitations in our personal lives. We need to develop a mindset to do our best with what we have and where we are. We need to avoid saying no time, too tired, very hard, no resources, no help, no energy etc., We tend to give these excuses if we don’t have our priorities right and not passionate enough. For example, if we realize that health and fitness is our value to achieve anything in life, we will make time to exercise, eat right and sleep well on time.
Do uncomfortable stuff
Start to do something with the passion in you. Try to spend little extra time on developing skills, read or learn stuff that would take you closer towards realizing your passion. Sometimes it is unlearning a lot of stuff by keeping our ego aside. Sometimes it is trial and error. It is like going into a space which puts you through difficulty and pain and going through it again and again. This creates new circuitry and neurons in the brain which develops the right attitude naturally.
How to inculcate these attributes in us
One way to develop this mindset is waking up early, trying out different forms of exercises and fitness routines in gym, challenging ourselves physically and testing our potential, eating healthy food and sticking to diet resisting temptations, parallelly meeting the needs personally and professionally, dedicating time for proper sleep.
Dealing with pain and discomfort physically and growing through it would lead to greater mental stamina as well.
These abilities and attitude attained while achieving physical fitness would extend to other areas of our lives and ultimately serve us to manage the situations efficiently.
With physical fitness and strength, there’s always a plateau we will hit. So we need to keep improving and progressively overload so that our body learns and adapts to new movements and gains better strength.
Below foods/spices have certain polyphenols and bio-flavonoids that have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. We can prepare a herbal mix drink or add it to tea (ONLY WITH WATER) along with below spices and drink in between meals.
Add below spices in moderation in hot boiling water for 15 min. Let is cool down to your convenient temperature and then drink it. If needed take a C-Vitamin table while drinking below spice concoction for immediate relief from respiratory breathing problems, cough and other inflammatory conditions.
Ginger
Garlic
Turmeric
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Black pepper
Cloves
Cumin
Green Tea
Coriander seeds
*Ginger, Garlic and Black pepper may be strong to some people and may cause stomach bloating. So add (or not) them as per your convenience and tolerance levels.
Read Protein Bio-Availability – Fit Body to Fit Mind . Plant based protein sources have lower BV (absorption and utilization) in our bodies. Hence, plant protein needs more consumption to meet daily protein needs. Do remember that many plant protein sources do not have full spectrum of Amino-acids which are building blocks of protein. So a mix of different kinds of plant protein sources can complete the amino acid profile needed for full benefits.
Cereals: Moderate protein, High carbs, Low fat
Rice – medium protein not recommended
Wheat – high protein
Barley – medium protein
Millets – high protein
Oats – high protein
Millets – Moderate protein, High carbs, Low fats
Millets are coarse grains which are good in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Non-gluten.
Jowar (sorghum), high protein
Ragi (finger millet), medium protein
Korra (foxtail millet), high protein
Arke (kodo millet), medium protein
Sama (little millet), medium protein
Bajra (pearl millet), high protein
Chena/barr (proso millet) high protein
Sanwa (barnyard millet). medium protein
Legumes – high to medium protein, high carbs, low fats
Pulses – Dry beans, Lentils, peas
Soybeans – high protein
Black eyed peas(Lobia) – medium protein
Chickpeas(channa) all kinds – high protein
Green gram – Whole moong beans – high protein
Yellow gram – Split moon beans – high protein
Split pegion peas – Toor dal – high protein
Kidney beans – rajma – medium protein
Red gram – masoor dal – medium protein
White gram – Urad dal – medium protein
Green peas and white peas – medium to high protein
Nuts – High protein, Low carbs, High healthy fat
Almonds
Ground nuts/Pea nuts
Cashew nuts
Pista
Walnuts
Flax seeds
Vegetables: Moderate to Low protein, Low carbs, high fiber, Low fat
The glycation process is initiated by a chemical reaction between the reactive carbonyl group of a sugar or an aldehyde with a nucleophilic free amino group of a protein, leading to the rapid formation of an unstable Schiff base.
As blood sugar goes up, the opportunity for sugars to bind with proteins increases, forming unwanted molecules in the process. These molecules that result from glycation are called “advanced glycation end products” or AGEs. AGEs have been likened to the rust in a car.
Oxidative stress is a phenomenon caused by an imbalance between production and accumulation of oxygen reactive species (ROS) in cells and tissues and the ability of a biological system to detoxify these reactive products.
Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the body’s ability to counteract their damaging effects through neutralization with antioxidants. Oxidative damage is the harm sustained by cells and tissues that are unable to keep up with free radical production.
A resistance to the hormone insulin, resulting in increasing blood sugar. The hormone insulin helps control the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood. With insulin resistance, the body’s cells don’t respond normally to insulin. Glucose can’t enter the cells as easily, so it builds up in the blood. This can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance typically has no symptoms. Lifestyle changes can help reverse insulin resistance.
A disorder that occurs when structures that produce energy for a cell malfunction. A common factor among mitochondrial diseases is that the mitochondria are unable to completely burn food and oxygen to generate energy, which is essential for normal cell function. It’s often inherited. Symptoms might include poor growth, developmental delays and muscle weakness.
Membrane integrity is defined as the quality or state of the complete membrane in perfect condition. When this cell membrane become unstable or porus, it could lead to a lot of metabolic disorders.
DNA methylation is an example of one of the many mechanisms of epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to inheritable changes in your DNA that don’t change the actual DNA sequence. That means these changes are potentially reversible.
Your DNA consists of four bases, called cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine. A chemical unit called a methyl group, which contains one carbon and three hydrogen atoms, can be added to cytosine. When this happens, that area of the DNA is methylated. When you lose that methyl group, the area becomes demethylated.
DNA methylation often inhibits the expression of certain genes. For example, the methylation process might stop a tumor-causing gene from “turning on,” preventing cancer.
Poor Methylation is most often caused by environmental toxins, high histamine intake, high estrogens, acute or chronic stress, and chronic infection or immune challenges.
Autophagy is the natural, regulated mechanism of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.
Nutrition is the most essential thing to sustain optimum metabolic health. All above factors can be kept in balanced state by following a healthy and wholesome diet.
Of course an optimum sleep schedule and physical exercise needs to be combined with a healthy diet for a better lifestyle.
A supernormal stimulus or super stimulus (a term used by evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists) is an exaggerated version of a stimulus to which there is an existing response tendency, or any stimulus that elicits a response more strongly than the stimulus for which it evolved. For example, Supernormal stimuli are the reason why we generally prefer the taste of unhealthy foods to healthy foods. Supernormal stimuli “hijack” our brain’s natural reward system so that we feel compelled to pursue and obtain them. This is all caused by our reward seeking hormone Dopamine released by brain.
As psychologist Susan Weinschenk explained in a 2009 article, the neurotransmitter dopamine does not cause people to experience pleasure, but rather causes a seeking behavior. “Dopamine causes us to want, desire, seek out, and search,” she wrote. It is the opioid system that causes one to feel pleasure. Yet, “the dopamine system is stronger than the opioid system,” she explained. “We seek more than we are satisfied.”
In the peak shift effect, animals sometimes respond more strongly to exaggerated versions of the training stimuli. This process mimics what the visual areas of the brain have evolved to do and more powerfully activates the same neural mechanisms that were originally activated by the original object.
Evolutionarily, animals displaying supernormal stimuli, and the organisms responding to the supernormal stimuli, rely on evolution and propagation of genetics, behavioral patterns, and other biological factors. Supernormal stimuli such as emphasized color, size, patterns, or shapes, are often successful because an organism that exhibits them will often be selected by an organism that favors it. This will ensure survival and increased reproductive fitness of current and latter generations.
Modern day examples of supernormal stimuli for humans are: junk food, the Internet, pornography, TV, social media, movies, fake news and video games.
Animals, including humans, are hardwired (i.e., genetically programmed) to respond to certain stimuli because they have a survival value in evolutionary terms. Supernormal stimuli, in essence, hijack the natural response tendency and cause animals to respond more strongly, and often preferentially, to the exaggerated stimuli. Importantly, supernormal stimuli tend to activate some of the same reward systems in the brain that are involved in addiction.
Junk foods, Refined and Processed foods, Sugary drinks
You might wonder why we are often drawn to junk food, such as potato chips, ice-creams, sweets etc., over natural foods like carrots, raw broccoli, apples, and raw nuts. Why do foods like doughnuts, pizza, soft drinks, french fries taste so darn good? In evolutionary terms, shouldn’t we prefer natural, healthier foods over fried, processed, fatty, sugary junk foods?
The answer lies in part with supernormal stimuli. We are naturally drawn to salt, sugar, and fat. In primitive days these are in short supply but are important to our survival. Sugar in foods like fruit provides a wonderful source of calories, nutrients, energy. So naturally we used to get excited and stimulated at the sight of a colorful, sweet, fragrant fruits and eat them.
The highly addictive nature of junk food is one of our generation’s great concerns—food is being engineered specifically to be more appealing than its natural counterparts.
Food is one of the toughest things to struggle with because it’s an absolute necessity—the problem with junk food is due to the fact that it is a “super stimulating” version of a natural reward we are supposed to pursue. Food addiction is the real deal, and a tough habit to break because the triggers are ever present.
Most of the foods in their natural format cannot be abused. Example : Try having a handful of Cocoa beans instead of a chocolate bar, try having bowl of fresh fruits instead of packaged fruit juice, try having a palm full of dry nuts instead of salted or caramelized nuts. You simply cannot overeat natural whole foods.
Food manufacturers have learned to capitalize on this natural tendency to be drawn to these foods. That’s why so many restaurants and grocery stores provide us with foods that are so high in salt, sugar, and fat. We are drawn to them, so we buy them. The companies get rich, and we get fat. Most of us would agree that fried foods, baked refined foods, sweets, pizzas are not good for us. Yet, we consume them anyway. One might think, from an evolutionary standpoint, we’d prefer carrots over potato chips. But clearly, as a society, we do not.
Technology – TV, Smartphones, Internet, Social Media, Video Games
We know that technology can have a grip on us such that we are constantly checking our phones, social media, texting, emailing, gaming, and so on.Many of the modern technologies offer services as exaggerated versions of stimuli to which we are evolutionarily drawn. Any technology media if misused or abused would turn into an addiction.
Let’s take social media as an example. In evolutionary terms, communicating with others and maintaining strong relationships are critically important for our survival. We are social creatures, and our very survival depends upon establishing and maintaining healthy relationships with others. Social media can be viewed as an exaggerated version of our biological need to establish and maintain social relationships.
Smartphone addiction may cause some users to elicit the signs of a behavioral addiction. Social media has been shown to make some people depressed—they see the highlight reel of others, and may feel worse about their own life. In spite of this, people can’t stop checking them, thinking that they might be missing out on something.
Probably the most controversial of all modern stimuli, pornography has been described as insidious in nature because it might skew the otherwise normal activity of sex. It’s been suggested that pornography messes up the “reward circuitry” in human sexuality—why bother trying to pursue and impress a potential mate if you can just go home and watch porn.
Then there are a lot of other examples in today’s world where we are being impacted by these supernormal versions of normal stimuli. Like the Fake News and forwards on social media, Conspiracy theory videos, Reality TV shows, Sensationalism in News channels, dramatization of violence and romance in movies and so on.
Niko Tinbergen, a Noble prize winner coined this term through his research, which discovered that experimenters could display an alternate target that attract an organism’s attention more so than the naturally occurring target. Tinbergen studied herring gulls, and found the chicks peck at the red spot located on their parent’s bill. The offspring targets the red spot due to the contrast of color (stimulus). They do this in order to receive food through regurgitation from the parent. Tinbergen and colleagues developed an experiment that presented different models to chicks and determined their pecking rates. They used different models including an adult herring gull’s natural head, a standard wooden model of its head, the bill only, and a red stick with smaller white markings on it.The pecking rate of the chicks were consistent with the natural head, standard head model, and the bill only model. The pecking rate of the chicks increased when presented with the stick model. This suggests that the chicks preferred the dramatic contrast of the red stick with the yellow markings, therefore the artificial stimulus of the stick model was favored over the basic herring gull head and bill models, proving that the artificial stimuli was favored over the naturally occurring stimuli. Following his extensive analysis of the stimulus features that elicited food-begging in the chick of the herring gull, constructed an artificial stimulus consisting of a red knitting needle with three white bands painted around it; this elicited a stronger response than an accurate three-dimensional model of the parent’s head (white) and bill (yellow with a red spot).
So , What’s the take-away now?
Every generation has its own challenges to deal with. Humans are amazing adaptive machines and that’s the reason why we survived for so long by constructively using all the inventions and discoveries. With any discovery, invention and technological advancement we faced with initial turbulence and uncertainty. It takes some time to come to terms with the newness. Majority of humanity is capable to handle the progress we make in various areas of life and shrewd enough to make use of the privileges productively for greater good. However, few people do succumb to these things and self-sabotage knowingly or unknowingly.
Any advancement we make can be abused or can be used for betterment. Choice and decision is in our hands to utilize the modern day amenities to serve our best interests.
Enjoying everything in moderation is the key. We need to be conscious that these activities do not turn into addictions that could harm us mentally or physically.
From to time to time, it is recommended to stay away from all these supernormal stimuli on our lives. By doing this we would realize our ability to resist the temptations. This builds self-confidence, self-control, courage, mental strength, patience to be in control of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
We need to constantly strive to employ our self-control and self-restraint to be in control of our sense and not to be dominated by the external forces.
References and excerpts taken from below articles:
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats – a type of fat the body cannot make on its own. Essential nutrients are important to lead a healthy life and to survive. We get the omega-3 fatty acids we need from the foods we eat.
There are two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids in fish — Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The form of omega-3 in plants is called Alpha-linolenic acid(ALA). All three EPA, DHA and ALA has well researched health benefits. ALA is also converted to Omega 3 fatty acids by the liver but the conversion rate is variable and generally low.
Foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids
Fish – Salmon, Mackerel, Tuna, Sardines
Flax Seeds
Walnuts
Almonds
Eggs
Soy beans
Chia seeds
Supplementation: Omega 3 fatty acids can be obtained from good quality supplements in concentrated form.
Benefits
May improve brain health, slows down age related brain degeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease
May help with ADHA and Autism in children
Can be beneficial for heart function
Reduces triglyceride levels
Can increase HDL cholesterol levels
Can reduce arterial plaque
Can reduce blood pressure
Anti-Inflammatory
Can reduce auto-immune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis
Majority of the people focus on external mechanics of health and fitness in terms of proper training, nutrition and supplementation. However, our ability to actually execute those things on a consistent basis is highly dependent on having the right mindset to begin with. Here are some tips to adopt that will increase your chances for having a healthy lifestyle over the long term.
Personally I would consider development of “Right Mindset” before Exercise, Nutrition and Sleep to have a fit and healthy life.
#1
Every strong and fit person was once a beginner too. It’s a normal tendency to look up to an experienced lifter who has already spent years gaining strength, following a strict diet, having a disciplined lifestyle and to then think their results are out of reach for you. In reality, everyone started out at square one at one time and even they would have had these kind of thoughts. Remember that if someone did it, we can do it too. There’s nothing stopping us from achieving the same results or even better results as long as we are willing to go down the path of hard work and perspiration with unwavering discipline. Only thing that could stop us is our limiting beliefs and negative self talk.
#2
We need to start with a reason and purpose behind our fitness journey. Start with ‘WHY’. We need to have a long term vision and value the return of investment that our overall fitness can provide in later stages of life. Being strong and fit is not something we need to just be doing for the next few months or few years. This is a lifelong journey that will pay dividends for literally the rest of your life. Remembering the long term returns like being independent in old age, being a role model to our kids and pillar of strength to our family, doing the things that many others may not be able to do and having the joys that others may not have – would give us that initial motivation to grind through initial stages. We need to be our own cheerleader during the initial stages and keep doing things that are hard and difficult. Once we gain momentum to keep up these good habits, they become our daily rituals after which we do not need extra motivation.
#3
Develop patience and do not rush through the process. We can build a strong building only with a solid foundation. Natural bodybuilding and muscle growth takes time. The more we hurry through the steps, the slower we reap the benefits. Why? Because muscles become stronger and bigger only when we strain them and put resistance on them through lifting or training. Next with proper nutrition and rest, those damaged muscles cells will be repaired to adapt to the resistance we applied, hence muscles grow and become stronger as we progressively overload. If we try to accelerate this process by over training or eating a lot of food, we either would get injured, burn out or gain unwanted weight. Becoming fit, strong and healthy is a gradual process and we need to adjust our mindset to think of bigger picture rather than in terms of instant gratification. It’ll probably take around 1 year to gain 50% of our total genetic muscle building potential, and it would then slow down by about half for every year after that.
#4
Consistency is the key. It is the process we adhere to and what we become during the journey that is important. Focus on consistency and progress rather than perfection. There would be minor bumps in the road, and we are not going sail through smoothly in our journey. Our life is not just our passion and goals. It also is attached to a lot of other things and challenges will inevitably pop up here and there, and this is just a normal part of everyone’s life. We need to accept this at the beginning your fitness journey, and that way we would be much less fazed when those obstacles do show up. Take a brief pause if needed or do the best you could do in that situation and start over. We must not think that a small break is end of it all and lose the momentum. Just look at the days, months, years we have ahead. The amount of time we lost due to a break is meagre compared to the copious life ahead. We can do a lot more than what we think we can do in our lifetime.
#5
We need to be inspired from within, instead of relying on external motivation. Motivation may not last for long if we are not inspired from within – to do something by attaching a real meaning to it.
If we have a strong purpose behind why we are in this journey, that becomes the pivot to pull us through hard circumstances. We need to love what we do or else there are many distractions in this world that could deviate us from our goal.
We might feel motivated by listening to an inspirational speech given by someone, but it may not last for long unless we believe in it, believe in ourselves and take immediate action.
We won’t always feel like going to the gym or sticking to our proper eating habits. It is hard to wake up early to put ourselves through rigors in gym, it is hard to eat healthy and stick to a diet resisting our temptations , it is hard to go to bed on time by switching off our mobile or TV. Here, it is our discipline and respect towards our ambition that keeps us going and not the external motivation.
When motivation fails us- discipline saves us. Discipline is simply doing the things that are right and that are in our best interests in spite of how we feel. Discipline is not falling for instant gratifications but doing stuff (sometimes boring and mundane) that results in long lasting happiness and long term wellbeing.
It is all a matter of time and consistent efforts we put in, to get that momentum. Consistency is the key.
It is those small insignificant actions and activities that we do daily, are the ones which would convert into major success some day. Once we gain momentum and when we start seeing fruits of our labor, we get into groove and there is no stopping.
Do you feel like you’re cracking under the stress?
When did you start losing it?
Was it when the pandemic hit?
When the lockdown dragged on and on?
When the economic devastation took root?
Or when the social unrest exploded?
For many of us, our ability to cope with the multiple traumas of these uncertain times went out the window at some point.
Why?
Why You Might be Cracking from the Stress
What makes some people able to cope with the most abominable situations while others struggle? Researchers have found that in high-stress situations, people who can’t weather the storm typically believe 3 things:
The situation is permanent.
The situation is global.
You have no control over the situation.
With the current pandemic and the ensuing fallout, plus the protests over social injustice, there is a lot of this type of thinking going on.
You may fear the threat of illness or death from COVID-19 will always be with us and that the economy will never recover. The pandemic, as well as the social unrest, have already spread worldwide, and you may be worried things will never go back to normal. And you may be feeling like you’re utterly powerless to change the situation.
This ramps up stress and anxiety and makes you feel hopeless. That’s when you lose it.
The Power of TLC in the Face of Trauma
Researchers have discovered that people who are more resilient in the most desperate times tend to believe in TLC. This is a strategy that flips your thinking to help you calm stress and anxiety and feel more hopeful about the future.
Here’s what TLC stands for:
Temporary: Seeing the situation as temporary.
Local: Seeing the situation as local.
Control: Believing you have some control over the situation.
In terms of our current environment, here’s how TLC can help you cope.
Temporary: The coronavirus pandemic will not last forever. Think about all the pandemics from the past—the Spanish Influenza, bubonic plague, and cholera, for example. They all eventually resolved. This will pass too. And every time our economy has dipped into a recession, it has rebounded. The same goes for social unrest, which has already calmed down in most areas of the country.
Local: Although COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, the illness has not hit every street in every neighborhood in every city in every country of the world. According to the latest statistics, there have been over 9 million confirmed cases worldwide and over 473,000 deaths. Those are certainly heartbreaking numbers, but remember that there are 7.7 billion people on earth, which means the vast majority of people have not developed the virus.
Control: Always remember that you can control your own behavior and thought processes. Focus on what you can control and understand that the solutions for health and wellness lie in 4 circles—biological, psychological, social, and spiritual.
In the biological circle, this means washing your hands frequently, but it also means eating right, exercising, getting adequate sleep, and shoring up your immune system with genuine vitamin and mineral supplementation.
In the psychological circle, you need to practice mental hygiene and disinfect your thoughts. Your head may be filled with ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) that lie to you and making you feel anxious, angry, stressed, and depressed. Every time you feel mad, sad, nervous, or out of control, write down what you’re thinking and ask yourself if it is true.
In the social circle, you need to know what you want out of life and if your behavior is helping you or hurting you. It’s also important to connect with people—safely—who help you become the best version of yourself.
In the spiritual circle, think about why you are on this planet and consider giving back in some way to help your community.
No matter how awful a situation is, if you believe in and practice TLC, you can strengthen your resilience to get through it.
What did our ancestors eat. Basically whatever they could hunt/gather cook and eat like Meat, veggies, fruits, many be nuts and berries. So in alignment with our genes of our ancestors if we just stick to food that is natural and whole in its original form, we will be fine. No need to worry about calories or nutrients or other stuff.
We no need to break our heads on what they ate but what matters is what they did not eat. For sure our past generations did not eat a lot of refined carbohydrates, refined oils, sugar, fried food, processed foods, packaged and baked foods, artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, pesticides, insecticides.
For heart health
Include anti-inflammatory diet. Diet rich in protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates
