Healthy Self. Heal Thy Self.

~ The Soulful Nib
I’ve been meaning to write about this particular topic for a very long time. Then why the delay? Well, there are two reasons for that:
  1. I was waiting for the right time
  2. I was lazy (procrastination, anyone?)
Without further ado, let me begin with today’s blog post.
When we were at school, we used to have this ritual each day to write a ‘Thought For The Day’ on the blackboard. Now, what can you expect a kid to understand the wisdom behind the lovely “thoughts”? We used to write some quote or the other, just to get done with it. There was this certain “thought” that kept repeating itself on a regular basis. More so like if any student hadn’t “researched” for a nice thought the previous day, he/she would end up writing this thought. Any guesses what that is? Obvious looking at the title of the post, it is “HEALTH IS WEALTH.”
Now that we’re all grown up and fairly understand words of wisdom, I cannot but marvel at the sheer simplicity and power these three words imply! Most of us always value material objects. We are forever trying to accumulate wealth, buy more possessions and what not. However, in all this, we fail to attend to the most important of it all. Something which if isn’t with us makes all the wealth useless. Yes, it is our very own health!
Now, I am not an extremely fit person myself to distribute gyaan, nor do I intend to preach anything. But I would like to tell you in brief, my story.
As a kid, I was terribly underweight and always caught a cold and infections easily. And then, just like that, I started gaining weight. And soon enough, I was plump and round. And like any teenager would dream of it, I too dreamt of being thin. Any guesses what did I do about it? Well, I did nothing. Yes. Nothing.
I would only scour for a lot of information about exercise. Worst of it all, (please don’t laugh), I used to watch those teleshopping advertisements about the slimming sauna belt. So this went on for a few years. Until one day, I can say the turning point of my life. I started taking my first steps towards actually putting into action, all that information I collected. Nothing major happened. I just started out on a whim. And started walking a kilometre every day with my now all-time favourite walking companion, my mother. Skip to a few months later, I fell in love with walking. No fancy exercises, no gyms. Pure walking. We started going to a park nearby and walked there too.
I have no drastic weight loss stories to tell. Sorry if you expected something. Cut to the present day, I still love walking. My parents gifted me with a fitness band for my birthday last year and it is one of my prized possessions. The sense of joy and accomplishment that I get when I reach my goal on n number of steps each day, is inexplicable! Recently, I am also trying to incorporate very basic Yoga and I’m enjoying the process so far.
When we talk about health and fitness, we only look at exercising. What about food? That’s where many of us (including me) fail. It’s a very common thing which a lot of us do. Once we begin exercising, we eat a lot of junk assuming that since we are anyway exercising, we are allowed to eat them. That isn’t really the case.
Exercising is easy. There are so many options these days. Even dancing is considered a form of exercise. So we will all for sure find some exercise which we would love to do.
It is the part where we pay attention to what we put into our body, where there is a catch. Not implying that we must survive on salads and “diet”, but we should try eating healthy on a regular basis. In simple terms, eat food cooked at home almost every day. It hasn’t been much of a struggle for me as I am at home these days. I do understand the situation of those staying in hostels or living alone in other cities away from home. It is difficult to cook your own food every day. A lot of restaurants do have healthy options (to some extent). Another thing is that I have been in a zone of always criticising what I eat. I still am struggling with easing that a bit. I guess, occasional binges and take out is good. Breaking the rules is fun! As long as they aren’t a regular thing, we should also enjoy unhealthy food once in a while, no?
Health
Oh, most importantly, (I don’t want to sound like a doctor!), it is extremely important that we drink enough water. Water intake depends on a lot of factors such as age, gender, level of physical activity. If you look up on the internet, you do get some websites which calculate how much water should you be consuming. I particularly like this one: Hydration Calculator.
I’ve got a few resources which might help and inspire you to start on your journey towards great health.
  1. YouTube Channel: Pick Up Limes (She is my absolute favourite person on the internet! )
  2. Instagram Page: It’s A Healthy Lifestyle (Amazing pictures of healthy food. One will love to eat healthy if food looks like what she eats)
  3. Book: Eat. Delete. by Pooja Makhija (Not a promotion. I loved this book!)
  4. Book: Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar  (Again, not a promotion. Quite similar to Eat. Delete.)
  5. Book: Buddha’s Diet by Tara Cottrell and Dan Zigmond (This has to be one of my main influences towards eating healthier. Worth a read and worth having in your library!)

Hope I ignited the enthusiasm in you to take a step forward towards the wealthiest thing you can own. Your health

Stay healthy, and stay blessed.
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Published by The Soulful Nib

Hello! I’m Chetana. A Music Buff. A Bibliophile. An Organisation Freak. A Minimalist. A Fitness Freak. Writing is something I am highly passionate about. Just as people live to eat, I live to write. I’m a Chartered Accountant by the day and a creative monster by the night (hehe :D). I aim to become a writer, an educator and an entrepreneur. In this blog, you'll find my musings, introspections, observations and occasionally, some poetry. I even review books on my Instagram page. My Pinterest and Instagram pages will help you in staying updated about the new posts I put up on the blog. Also, if you love reading, do follow me on Goodreads! I reside in the sweet and charming coastal city of Mangalore.

13 thoughts on “Healthy Self. Heal Thy Self.”

  2. Agreed with the point what use is the wealth when there is no health !
    Now a day’s the general lifestyle has turnes sedentary thanks to the increasing work stress. It becomes even more important now to take some time out foe our selves.
    In addition to some exercise and diet, sleep should also be considered a part of health

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