Long working hours, meeting deadlines, and hectic shedule is what a corporate person has to go through. To top of it don’t know what to do of your doctor’s warning about your borderline / abnormal tests and / or expanding waistline?
These are the common concerns, which our lifestyles and hectic work culture has brought forth. No denying that we can do little to reduce the quantum of work but it is very much in our control to help our body to cope up with it and end up full of energy and vitality. Interested to know how, then read on: First thing first, start by looking at your daily routine and include the following changes, a) Early to bed and early to rise – Nothing can match the benefits of this granny’s wisdom. Our body needs 6-8 hrs of undisturbed sleep per day. More so nothing can match a good nights’ sleep. So reserve late night parties for the weekends only and not to say of late night e-mailing (do it early morning instead) and try to get up early. b) Water the body- Start your day by having 2-3 glasses of luke warm or room temperature water. This will help you to clean your bowels and flush your kidneys. c) Warm up for the day-Go out in the neighborhood park or your lawn and do 30 minutes of exercise (after completing your mailing), which can include further stretches, mobility exercise, and 20 minutes of aerobic exercise. Remember exercising in open will fill your lungs with pure oxygen, soothe your eyes (courtesy all that greenery) and freshen your mind. Forget to carry your mobile along and attend to the missed calls, if any, later. d) Pamper your body- Give a short 5 minutes oil or dry towel massage to your body before bathing if time permits and sprinkle your eyes with clean water while holding water in your mouth for a few seconds, repeating three times, to get your eyes and whole ENT apparatus cleansed of all the muck. e) Facing the grill- While at work take 5 minutes break at hourly intervals to stretch yourself and taking your eyes off the computer screens and doing a few rounds of deep breathing. Do devote exclusive time to eating while chewing your food properly and do not take the boardroom to the cafeteria. Drink water only after an hour of your meals though small sips with meals are ok). Stroll a while after your lunch ( as well as dinner). f) Home sweet home- Relax in the comfort of your home and sweet company of your family after retiring for the day. Do a ‘Shavasana’ and ‘Pranayam’ to relax tired body and nerves. g) Early dinner- an early dinner complements the active body and prevents gaining weight and induces better sleep. A glass of milk (No coffee please) at night further helps in a baby like sleep. h)
Socialise and strengthen bonds- Your weekly getaways should preferably include outdoor excursions, games and fun and frolic with family and / or friends. This not only is gong to charge you for the week but will also strengthen relationships (Even business relations if you are interested only in that) j) Stop smoking and moderate your alcohol intake. Secondly, you have to watch your food, as it is the fuel, which keeps your body running; a) Go fibrous- Have fiber rich cereals like oats, barley, corn, whole wheat, brown rice etc in place of wheat floor and white rice. b) Protein punch- Include plant proteins like lentils, grams, and beans in addition to the animal proteins. Avoid red meat and yellow of eggs (2 whole eggs per week is though allowed) if you have high cholesterol. Soy is quite useful in certain conditions. c) All fats are not bad- Keep your visible fat intake to 20 gms with a right blend of MUFA and PUFA. Keep on rotating the oils you consume. Saturated fat should not be more than 1 tsf per day if you are sedentary. Tans fats are out. Use sautéing, or baking in place of frying to reduce the fat intake. Use low fat versions of cheese and other dairy products. d) Be colorful- Include lots of dark colored vegetables and fruits in your diet. In fact, your coffee breaks can be replaced by a fruit, salad or vegetable juice breaks (fruit juices are best avoided, as they could be fattening, and instead whole fruits are preferred).
Avoid canned products but frozen products are fine. e) Hydrate- Keep a glass of water always handy and sip it at regular intervals while at work. Our body needs 6-10 glasses of fluids every day and nothing can replace a glass of pure sparkling water. Replace colas and tea/ coffee with herbal /green tea/ lemonades/ vegetable juices/ clear soups, to the maximum. f) Nutty buddy- Healthy nuts like 5-7 almonds and 2-3 walnuts should be consumed to provide body with MUFA and trace minerals. g) Fight the free radicals through power foods- stress causes production of free radicals in the body, which leads to degeneration, disease and premature ageing. To fight these predators, we can include foods like citrus fruits, apple, amla (Indian goose berry) broccoli, wheat grass juice, sprouts, alfa-alfa sprouts, celery, carrots, pumpkin, soy and the list is long and growing through research. h) Go low on sugar and salt- As most foods contain natural sugar and salts the addition of the two to our meals should be reduced to minimum. Go for fruity delights or raisins and dates for sugar cravings and mind you the sugar free options are no good either as their safety is under scanner.( so no diet cokes). The sodium intake should be 1000- 3000 mg per day i.e 1 tsf of common salt per day is sufficient .Avoid spicy food as it contains more than usual salt in order to camouflage the spice and read the labels. Third, as various epidemiological studies have shown that diabetes and cardiovascular diseases top amongst the lifestyle diseases amongst urban sedentary populations and more so in Asian Indians in U.S.A, it is mandatory for one to heed to one’s doctor’s warning. To make matters easy, following is a list of normal parameters which one should try to attain and maintain. ·
Keep an Ideal body weight · Keep an ideal BMI ( body mass index- weight in Kgs / height in meters square) · Maintain a normal bone density · Keep a normal abdominal girth (< 40 inches in men and < 36inches in women) · Keep you r blood sugar normal ( Fasting < 110 mg% and PP < 140 mg%) · Keep your A1C <6 · Keep normal levels of homocysteine. · Keep your cholesterol< 150 mg% · Keep good cholesterol, HDL > 40 in males and >50 in females · Keep triglycrides <150 mg% · Keep your bad cholesterol LDL < 100 mg % · Keep your total cholesterol/ HDL ratio <4.5 · Keep your Blood pressure 110-130 / 70-85 mmHg · Know your Lpa levels and take precautionary measures if abnormal · Keep your uric acid <7 mg % · Keep your blood urea / Creatinine ratio 20:1 I am sure with a little effort, you can achieve a zestful, disease free, happy life and encourage every body around you also to follow suite
You can mail your queries to drdeepikamalik@yahoo.com
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