Not rich to afford organic

With due respect to all my friends and family who have entered the organic food spectrum...

"I buy only organic food" is the new "I own a Ferrari".

The former has become such a proud statement given by all the "I'm-back-to-nature" kind of people. Lately,the obsession for the organic food had had a big boom.However, I'm no where in the organic food spectrum. I fear to step into the spectrum mainly because I don't understand what really is "organic food" (NOTE: bold,underlined). Also, I get a head spin when I look at the price tag of the organic produce and no doubt that there will be a big hole in my budget if I move into "so-called-organic".

When my son exclaims "WOW!! It's so beautiful" looking at those apples shining under the lights at Publix, a chill runs down my spine. Aren't the apples supposed to be healthy and not just beautiful? The wax wrapped around the apples, the orange color dye coming out of carrots, the creamy-thickness of the yogurt, the worm-free eggplants, the flawless-toy-like tomatoes... All these "conventional farming" products scare me. Having said that, the sky-racketing price and the concealed conspiracy of the organic food equally alarms me.    

Pic Courtesy : sujajuice.com

By "organic", we all think that it is "pesticide-free", but the truth is IT IS NOT! How many of us know that there are pesticides used in organic farming too. This is because of the fact that the use of pesticides will increase the produce. It was a jolt, when I came across the information that the pesticides used in organic farming can be equally harmful as those of the one used in conventional farming. And some may be  carcinogenic too.  This just a pinch from the "hidden" facts behind the organic food industry, to know more undisclosed information, check out this link - Facts about organic industry

I kind of feel deceived, when I think that once I bought the irregular-shaped carrots, cauliflower-with-worms, juicy tomatoes with seeds inside within my budget and now, I have to burn my pocket to buy the same. Thanks to the "information revolution" , which is throwing a hell lot of data within our fingertips and we are prone to know about many fancy words like "genetically modified", "synthetic pesticides", "carcinogenic". And we end up panicking about the food that we eat.

I don't say organic produce is bad, nor do I say conventional food is good.  I only say, that I have been forcibly dragged to a state of turmoil, where in the world screams to me like "You are eating the bad.Pay more, to eat the good". And my only reply would be "At least, I eat the bad within my budget. What if I spend more and eat the bad again?"

Pull your socks up!

Bang! Bang! Bang! System Alert: You have been found unproductive!!!
Bang! Bang! Bang! System Alert: You have been found unproductive!!!
Bang! Bang! Bang! System Alert: You have been found unproductive!!!

Now, you don't panic. This is the alert going on in my head daily. Nothing..Nothing productive I did for the past week... Leave the productive, nothing I did as per my schedule for the last one week...

No workout...
No tidying up...
Ate junk food...
Missed my target water-intake...

Everything collapsed for the last week! Such an epic unproductive week, it was! Congrats,me!

For the one who stays at home all day, hearing just the sound of clock-ticking,I understand that the world economy won't fall down by being unproductive! And, you may wonder, why do I blabber something about "productivity" , by being a stay-at-home mom. Its just because, an idle lifestyle scares me!

Now, this one week of  doing nothing, watered a big guilt in me! As a typical human living in the social networking era, I searched for the solution, not in myself but in the Internet!

 "How to be productive?"
Pinterest showed me a lot of productive planners.
WikiHow gave me ideas.
App store suggested me "Productivity" apps.

I saved the planners, read the ideas and downloaded the app. And sat behind in my pajamas, still unproductive, eating the cake frosting. The app in your phone, the reminders it sends for your workout or run, do you think, it will make you to pull up your socks until the inner-you punches you?Never! The so-far-sleeping-inner-me punched me today and I pulled my socks.

It's totally ok. Absolutely fine, to not workout, eat junk, stay lazy, do nothing. But when the guilt of being so, pinch somewhere in you, don't snooze it as you snooze your alarm. Bounce up with all the energy saved during the "did-nothing-phase" and do more.

This works with any context of life. Whenever you are down, don't feel guilt about being down until an instinct shows up in yourself. Once you see an instinct, bounce up higher and higher until the guilt turns to satisfaction, until the satisfaction turns to honor, until the honor turns to pride!

Pinterest, sorry, I don't need your planners, App store, sorry I don't need any of your productivity apps and their notifications,  my inner-me has awaken now.

My new found hobby

I hardly remember the last time I developed a new hobby. I neither had the time nor the interest. With books around me, I never had a thought to spend my time in another way.

A month back, when I met my son's teacher, she advised me to teach my son to draw little things like car, apple and so on. With a pathetic drawing skill, how can I teach my son to draw? I don't even know to draw a straight line, straight.

A rare "Buddha-under-bodhi-tree" kind of day enlightened me to try out drawing. And the result is what you see below. I, initially hesitated to share these,thinking, if it is worth sharing. Later, I gathered courage and posting it. With prior apologies to all the wonderful artists who had created these arts, I'm sharing here, my amateur work. I tried to just reciprocate the drawings which I found in Google. Any kind of comments are utmost welcome!

In Hindu religion, any new work is started with a prayer to our first God - Lord Ganesha. No wonder, this is my first try

If there is one reason for all the good happening to me, it is none other than Lord Sai Baba. How can I not try drawing him?

This little girl is fascinated by the view of the moon through the window, just like me. 

The wait under the umbrella 

She must, definitely be a cheer leader

P.S : All these pictures, have been googled and I try reciprocating the same. I don't owe any of these pictures. My respect and regards to all the talented artists who created these work.

From depressed to determined

Those days when I got low grades at my school
Those days when my seminar failed at my college
Those days when I roamed jobless
Those days when my appraisal didn't go well at work
Those days when I had a dispute with my loved ones
Those days when I had temper tantrums

"Frustration", "Depression","Emotional outburst", "Feel-low", "Stay aloof" - all these words and phrases would turn BOLD,Italics and underlined in my dictionary of life, at those times. Everyone would have gone through similar kind of phases. After all, life is not a cake walk and the tides won't always be up. The way, how we handle those hard phases and come out, is what makes us all strong.

At times,anything or anyone can bring you down and make you feel low, but it can be one and only you who can make yourself stronger in spite of of all the circumstances. As we age, things might never get easier, we must get better instead. There can be no defined step-by-step process that can be practiced to overcome our frustrations. It's all up to an individual how to face it. Yet, here I list the things what I will do when I feel low. If you think, that any of these might suit you as well, my job here is done.

~ A long prayer

The first thing I do, when tears start rolling down my cheeks out of frustration or depression is to go for a long prayer. I strongly believe that the almighty is the only one before whom we can place all our emotions at our hard times. I sit in my prayer room,prepare for a soulful connect with God and pour out all my hard feelings. I have never, ever asked "Why me?" instead, I will ask for help to face my hard times and to make me stronger. After a long session of such soulful connect, I come out with my heart lighter and mind stronger.


~ Count the blessings

You know, one of the worst consequences of being frustrated is to come up with the list of all the things that went wrong, worry about it and getting depressed more. This was the biggest fault I use to make often. I had arrived to a point of realization as how bad it was and now , I start to list up my blessings instead. If my blessings can  make me happier, my hardships have the power to make me stronger.


~ Start the work now

This is nothing but a "Disaster Recovery". Though my long prayer and my "counting-the-blessings"  would help me feel better, if not, I start the work, my jump over my frustrations is just half--way through.  Start the work to clear either the cause or the consequence of the depression. Either way, if it isn't worked up, it will stay stagnant.

Pic Courtesy : Quote Addicts

Let us develop an attitude to see our hardships as opportunities to build a stronger-self. When life throws you the things labelled "Get frustrated out of this", make the things up and throw the same back, with the label as "I became stronger out of this". Triumph doesn't lie in being undefeated, the real triumph lies in , being defeated and raising back again more stronger. So, if something turns up wrong, be strong!

5 motivational quotes which inspire me always

I'm a "cup-half-full" kinda person!

I'm addicted to the positive vibes lingering around me...

This positivism is what drives me, even in my blue days...

It's nothing less than a bliss to dwell in something,be it a place or relationship, that diffuse positive vibes. A pinch of positive, good vibes in our daily "EAT-WORK-SLEEP" schedule, will help to keep our souls alive and energetic. Every morning, I would love to start my day by reading those motivational and positive quotes flooded in my Instagram and Twitter news feeds. Here are some of my favorite "boost-up" quotes, which inspired me the most.

5. Whenever my flabby, sluggish body bothers me, the below saying makes me feel that, "How I look is not who I actually am"

4. Be it work-related or workout-related, the below quote suits well.

3. That moment, when you feel like giving up, think of all who is waiting to see you give up. Then , you will work to prove them wrong.

2. This is the "master stroke". Whenever my mind turns evil and start comparing as "How successful/happy I am" versus "How happy/successful others are", it totally turns me down. The first time, I came across this quote, this has pinned strongly in mind and from then, I'm bothered about how green my grass is than looking at other's grass.

1. This is my most favorite. Whenever, I'm best at killing time, this quote runs before my eyes in "marquee" and I quickly, get upright to work on the next thing in my bucket list.

We, all need such extra push, in form of quotes, which help us to pull up our socks and keep running, whenever we feel tired or about to give up. Only a novice would see such quotes, to stimulate their work towards - "How can I be successful", "how can I be fit" , "how can I be richer". It's not a fault but it's their perspective. If you are not a novice, you might know that the ultimate purpose behind such motivational quotes, is to keep you, stay positive. Don't just read and pass through, instead try sticking it in one of your brain nerves. You, sure, won't regret.

Be positive, spread good vibes!

P.S: Images shared in this post are from sources like google, Instagram  and Twitter pages. I could not find the source in specific and so, couldn't mention the picture courtesy. So, I declare that, I owe no ownership for the images shared in this post.

How to control holiday weight gain?

It takes every ounce of my self-control to just see and not buy those yummy-looking cupcakes during this holiday season. Even when I type "SELF-CONTROL", I can hear my inner-me laughing like "Self-control? You? Hahahahaha!!!". "Screw you, my inner-me!".

I know, when it comes to food,I totally lack self-control. That too with the holiday seasons nearing in U.S and the Indian festive mood not yet gone, I have turned my stomach literally into a piñata of food. I'm not blessed with some super-human will power to turn my heads away from those cakes,instead I just console myself saying, "It's holiday season,Babe. Don't count the calories!" .

Either, the cake factories should stop baking yummy cakes or I should stop my cravings, until then my swan-diving into the cream and the cake will never stop. Thus, the "Fall" season has literally turned into a "Food" season and holiday weight gain is inescapable but to keep it under threshold is one thing we can plan for.

1.Gulp H2O in bulk

Whenever that "evil" tummy craves and asks  for any food, take a minute to drink a glassful of water before reaching for that food. This will dead sure control the portion size of the intake. When H2O hydrates the body, there's a likelihood for less or even no cravings.

2.Weigh yourself often

This will just to build a guilty feeling which will then make you have a second thought when you grab for a delicious oil-fried,whipped-cream-on-top,gluten-full kinda food.


3. Follow Inverted food pyramid

With this approach, you don't need to kick your cravings, just check the time when you fulfill your food cravings. Push in your inner-will-power a little, to say a strict "NO" to all cravings that happen on late evenings.

Pic Courtesy: inmotiontraining.com.au

4. Don't skip workouts

Easy to say, but I know how hard it is to pursue workout with the festive mood on. If not that hour-long, bath-in-sweat workouts, try 20-25 minutes workouts. Minimum, it should be 20 minutes, because that's the time taken for your body to react to your workout.

I was keen about naming this blog post as "How to control holiday weight gain?" instead of "How to avoid holiday weight gain?". Because, I know that the holiday weight gain is inevitable (in particular, for foodies like me) and what's life without enjoying those delicious food out there during the season of celebrations. Don't concern about people calling you "foodie", fat" and telling that "you had put on weight".  After all, what's a new year without a "weight-loss" resolution? So, we will take care of our weight-loss stuff,later! Until then, eat some yummy cakes and enjoy the holiday spree.

Branches may be anywhere but...

Don't know about others, but I have a blank space.

A blank space created in myself.
A blank space that grows bigger and bigger whenever I miss my home.
A blank space which can never be filled by anything.

This blank space hurts more on special occasions and mine did hurt more on Diwali - one of the biggest festivals in India, commonly known as "Festival of lights". Diwali celebrations in my childhood were the most joyous moments. Thanks for the non-existence of social media otherwise it would have been just-another posting pics in Facebook with "happily celebrating Diwali" status and counting on the likes.

The celebration starts the previous day evening, where we anticipate the last bell in school and rush to get back home.Mom would be busy preparing snacks and Dad settles the fight for crackers among us, siblings. More than "Please give good marks" prayers, the Hindu gods would have heard "Please no rain on Diwali" prayers. Those were the days where the "green-diwali" or "stop-noise-pollution" or "dont-scare-animals" slogans were not much happening and we never worried about polluting the environment as much as we can, by bursting crackers. There would be a silent "Who bursts more crackers?" competition going on between with the neighbors.

On Diwali day, we never needed alarms or mom waking us up. Hearing the crackers sound outside, we jump out of the bed. By the time, all of us finish taking oil bath, Mom would finish preparing the yummy food and Dad would be ready placing the new dresses in the prayer room for pooja, Again, what else would be our prayer as a kid, rather than "Please no rain today". Wearing the new dress after pooja, eating till the  tummy says "I'm going to burst", the cracker-bursting starts again and goes till night. In the midst of all these, family gatherings happen with the exchange of food and love.

Now, all these scenes run as a dream and I have to pinch myself to realize that, it had actually happened once. The love lingering in the family gatherings, the essence of native celebrations, the aroma of home food and many such endless "blah-blah-blah", Phew, I miss it, I totally miss it!

Isn't this the state-of-mind for all who live far away from their family and motherland, in an urge to pursue the dreams,yet have a permanent blank space left in them? Try partying, do potlucks, go outings, fly to Disney or NewYork and again there you see the blank space still BLANK.

One side,missing the native celebrations, the other side, I have to plan for a Halloween costume for my son. Huh! I really don't know what for they have Halloween and I have to celebrate it!!!

Branches may be anywhere but my roots are still at India! Everybody who live faraway yet miss their home and native festivals, still have their roots at motherland. Having our roots firm is not enough, its our obligation to have our sons and daughters rooted as we are!

4 easy ways to fight Monday blues

The day is almost passed and if you are still in off-mood, Congratulations! You are definitely a member of "I Hate Monday" club. Considering all the jokes,memes and motivational messages, made solely for Mondays, it's clear that there's a huge population out there, who are not Monday persons...

After two days on weekend, without morning alarms, the Monday alarm will sound like a bell from the hell. Carrying the weekend sloth, everything seem to fall apart and add up to the Monday bitterness. The morning alarm,tooth paste falling off tooth brush, running out of toilet tissues, oven timer, missing the other socks, all these seem to add up to the Monday bitterness. If at all,this had happened on Friday, it would have been a not-a-matter thing.

I'm definitely not an exception. I strive to be a "Monday person", I'm still not there yet. I reap the bad outcome of the inertia spreading throughout the week, just because of one "badly planned Monday". When I decided to stop this ripple action, I came up with the below ways and habituating it.


1. Do nothing on late Sunday

This is a small yet powerful tip which, sure shot, helps. After all your Friday and Saturday night-outs, try to just hibernate on late Sunday. Consider it as a prep-time for the next day. There's nothing more needed to make the Monday more stressful than a tight Sunday evening. Doing nothing on just one Sunday evening will aid to do more things on the forthcoming whole week.

2. Have a good "Sunday night sleep"

Easy to say, hard to practice. If we people, ever had had a sound sleep on Sunday night, we would have never been endowed with the "Monday blues". That rested-feel which you get after a good sleep will never make you Mondays sluggish.

3. Schedule "new thing" for Monday

Are you about to try a new thing? Like trying a new out fit, new shoe, new hairstyle, new bag, meeting a new person or anything of that sort? Please try having it on Mondays. That small thrill or pleasure about experimenting a new, fresh thing will help you, not get annoyed of the morning alarm.

4. Greet your fellow mates

When Friday evenings are filled with cheerful "happy weekend" greetings, the poor Monday mornings are filled with just fake "good mornings". Nurture a habit to wish a "happy new week ahead" to your fellow mates, No doubt, it spreads such a positive vibes to your sphere.

Let's not just spread the Monday jokes and live with it, lets also spread some positive vibes and help ourselves and our mates to face Monday. Don't let the Monday's second name, sink you. Don't lack but pack the passion and motivation. Blow those blues and bloom in the gloom :)

Experimenting 21/90

I'm definitely not a "Math person" and look out for a calculator even for simple additions. So, you ought not worry, if this post is something related to Math. Having said, its not about "Math", I can say that it's about kind of a "Myth"... A myth which turns into reality for the people who believes it... Without further ado, here I disclose what's this 21/90...

           "It takes 21 days to create a habit. It takes 90 days to create a lifestyle"

Such a simple "myth formula" to raise the standard of our life. But, beyond doubt,it is hard to pursue. The resolutions written in the new year diary, the year-long gym subscription, the no-more-smoking promises can indeed materialize, if 21/90 is put into use. 

Lately, I pushed myself, to practice few itty-bitty things, which I was having in my "new-year-resolution-list", every year.. Quoting two of those, just in glimpse...

* H2O-obsessive

I was one of that desert-creature-kind who barely drinks water and regret for being so. Every time I suffer from dehydration, I tend to drink more water but then, the desert-creature in me  pops up again. In an endeavor to pursue a healthy lifestyle, I started to be more of a human than a desert-creature and attempt to drink more water. May sound silly, but it is little hard to break the line and travel from being-dehydrated to being-hydrated. 8 cups of water a day was not a joke for me, but with 21/90 rule, it is quite-achievable. Now that it has become my habit, I'm in a half way through to adapt it as my lifestyle :)

* Smart-phone-non-obsessive

Can't deny the fact that smart phones have become a sixth finger for many of us now. But, if it is costing our real life, to live in such a virtual world is the thing, we need to self-audit every now and then. In such a moment-of-truth, I discovered that I was a little close to become obsessed to my smart phone. I felt it was a high-time to convince and convert. With 21/90 in hand,guess who has now, lost the urge to check the phone often now?? It's ME!!!! The crux is not seeing my phone once I wake up or before I fall asleep.I admit that my books give me a good sleep which was robbed by my Facebook news feed. 

Now that, I have reaped the benefits of  21/90, I dust off all my old resolutions and tend to tick-off  one-by-one using this myth formula.  Every time, when I give a shoulder-tap to myself, on habituating a new-good-thing, I feel the push to explore more.You have no idea how such teeny-weeny habits will aid to unveil a "good-new-you" until you experience it.If you are ever in a thought to cultivate a new habit or to abandon a habit, I strongly recommend 21/90. All that is needed is your check-list and a little perseverance. When 21/90 is a thumb, everything is a triumph!

5 things to do during ME time

After so many skipped-breakfast days, deadline-crossed days,no-time-for-workout days, tired-even-after-a-sleep days,boss-screaming-in-dream days, all we want would be, to disconnect from all the stress and get some ME time. This desire would be not less for stay-at-home people too after all their routine cooking,cleaning,laundry,kids and other chores. As we all strain to satisfy other people, be it the boss, client,parents,spouse or kids, we totally forget there is a poor human to think of : YOURSELF.

The stress which we created artificially in our lifestyle had brought us the credit of adding a new word in the English dictionary : "ME TIME"  Oh...Oh...Oh... Now don't stare at me like that for writing "stress-artificially-created"... Is it not so? Sorry, but I believe so... People who fail to balance work and life, end up in balancing one more thing along with that,i.e., stress and again fail in that. Be it a 9-5 or over than that, everything can be handled like a pro, only and  only if we have some "ME time"

Now, that ME time is not sitting alone without any disturbance and checking social media in your smart phone. More than your work or your boss, your friend's Facebook statuses on "going on a cruise","bought a new Lamborghini" ,"moving to a villa" will stress you more. It's not just envy but we focus more on what other people have, than actually thinking what we really need. So, "No...no...no...no...no..." ME time is not just facebook-ing,twitter-ing,instagram-ing or snapchat-ing. Here, I share some ideas on how to effectively spend a ME time, which you can customize as per your interests.

1. Hot tea in the patio with a book

Do you know the best couple who carry the charisma for ages and ages and loved by all? It's none but the hot tea and a book. After a long- busy day,nothing can de-stress you than sitting in your patio with a hot tea and your favorite book.Now, by book, I mean an actual paper book, nothing digital. Feel the smell of the book when you turn the pages, your digital gadgets will never carry any such aroma. 

2. Warm bubble bath

We all are well-deserved for that hot/warm bubble bath in the tub with light music playing in the back. Nothing cinematic, experience it and you will reap the pleasure.

3. Self-oil-massage

It's not that only a professional massage given in parlors will relax you. Try giving yourself a massage with warm oil, starting with hair,scalp,forehead,around eyes and ears. We know our body more than anybody else and your personal touch on your body will never fail to soothe you more.

4. Date with nature

When was the last time you enjoyed drenching in rain? When was the last time you went to beach, sat calmly and watched the waves? When was the last time you laid in a park bench seeing up the tree branches and sky? If the answer for all these is either "NEVER" or "It's been long", it's high time for you to hibernate from the materialistic world and have a date with nature. And when you do that, promise me not to post a Facebook status as "relaxing at", "enjoying at". Because, it will end up in thinking of the number of likes you get for the post and nature will never be in your scene.

5. Breathing exercise

Here's the easiest ME time activity which you can do. It doesn't need anything or anywhere to go. It just needs YOU. It gives a mental massage to you.Yes, I'm talking about PRANAYAMA - the breathing exercise. If you want to take a tour on yourself and feel yourself, then this is the way. This breathing exercise followed by a meditation helps you to disconnect from your stress,worries,pain and so on. You don't need to be a pro to do that. After all, everyone started as beginners. 

So... this is my list and this is not MUST. Identify your interests, don't ignore you, don't keep ME time last in your to-do list. Take time to hide from all things that stress you, call it the "ME TIME" and find yourself :)

Before and After

I'm a kind of person who use to subscribe to all YouTube channels, Instagram pages related to total body workout, abs workout, lazy workout,cardio and so and so. If you think, I do all these, the answer is "Nah,Nah,Nah"... The only thing I do subscribing to all these is to admire the before-after pictures with my jaws dropping. Where in this whole world, these people get motivation to undergo such a huge transformation? Great, they are! But do you think, they will stop there? Nooooooo! Only and only if they continue their training and workout, they will continue to look as in the "AFTER" pic or otherwise, they will look back as in the "BEFORE" pic.

I always wanted to have one such awesome BEFORE-AFTER pic of mine. All it demands is, to do hard workout day-by-day,everyday but I hardly do a workout. Somehow, I motivated myself and made up my mind, to go to gym daily. I got new shoes, new capris, tank tops and know what? All these were just for a 3-day drama. I didn't continue and started resting along with my new shoes,capris and tank tops. Those treadmills,cycle,ellipticals drained all my energy out along with my motivation. I just felt, it's not my kind.

Then I came up with an alternative which is of my style. Pilates, Oooo!Hooo! Rather than bored and checking out the timer to end soon while doing tread mill, I found its kind of fun to do pilates. I got my personal pilates trainer,errr, VIRTUAL-pilates trainer.Yup! Cassey Ho. Have you ever heard of her? She's a sensational youtube celebrity and a pilates trainer. Which part of your body, you want to shape into or you wanna burn? Be it the abs, thighs, booty or arms, she has got the pilates moves for it in BLOGILATES YouTube channel. So,now comes my self-challenge.

Journey towards healthy lifestyle : Self-challenge 4

I'm really not determined enough to do a hour-long workout. So, I split  my workout in terms of body parts rather than time. One day, I will take up abs,arms and thigh workout, the next day I take up leg,booty and muffintop workout. As I do these workouts, I tend to do it for a hour-long sometimes or just for quarter of an hour. In spite of the time, I feel content about burning a particular body part.
It is really a fun to do such mix-ups and working out. Initially, my body was so stiff and c-couldn't accommodate to the moves but as I continue doing it, my muscles are getting accustomed to it.

So far, if you had asked me what's the happy pain, my only answer would have been 'labor pain'. Now, I have a second answer, Yes! Sore muscles. Sore muscles are happy pain too!

The feel you get when you see your capris and jeans becoming loose.... Phew! Man!!! It's not less than a bliss... It can only and only be attained via a workout, CONTINUOUS WORKOUT. If you miss a day or two between, never mind but remember, never go three days continuously without a workout. If you wanna read a book or watch tv rather than working out, do it but in parallel just tend to do some moves or stretches, as they say "two mangoes in one stone hit" :)

My personal belief is that it's not just the diet or the green tea or the weight-loss drink which will help you to shed your pounds. All those might detoxify your body. But without seeing the sweat by working out, you can't achieve the 'AFTER'-pic-body which you want.

Now, the PUBLIX weigh scale shows my weight, few pounds lesser and gives me the same excitement as the before-after pics. 

No more 'WTF?'

One minute silence to all who haven't read this post title as 'No more Where's the food?'. I'm a big foodie and not a day will pass for me without asking/encountering these phrases - 'Where's the food?' or 'What's the food?'. I always wonder, 'Why the hell,fattening foods are so tasty?'. My day starts,runs and ends with the thought of food. One end, I couldn't control my food cravings and on the other end, I worry about putting on weight.The biggest offense of being a shorty is that we will look bulky even if we put on few pounds.

As days passed, my food cravings grew up high in the graph along with my worry about being fat. Eating is an absolute pleasure to me but ironically, I felt anguished over my unhealthy eating. One day, when I strongly felt, "THIS IS IT", there needs to be an end to this. I sat alone and went through the things which I might change to stop my over-unhealthy-eating.The things which I say now may sound familiar, but I write this to share how I adapted these practices.

Journey towards healthy lifestyle : Self-Challenge 2

Just like everyone, I sought help from internet for any diet plans. And I was drawn towards 'GM diet'.It is a 7-day diet plan, which definitely won't let you starve.So, I took this as a challenge and went for it. The diet was tough for the first three days but from day 4, my body became accustomed to it. I customized the diet plan as per my eating style (but not changing the core of the diet), and it was roughly like this:

Day 1 : Fruits day
Day 2 : Veggies day
Day 3 : Fruits + Veggies
Day 4 : Banana + Milk
Day 5 : Sprouts + Soup + Veggies
Day 6 : Sprouts + Soup + Veggies
Day 7 : Brown rice + Cooked veggies

As a catch-up line, this diet plan was said to make you lose certain pounds in a week. More than losing pounds, I strongly believe that, it will detoxify your body. Once we undergo this diet for a week, we will continue to have a control on our food portions and our cravings too. This diet is not recommended to undergo continuously for more than a week. Whenever, you feel like, it's time to detoxify, you can  take this up. If you find it tough, just be a little-evil by cooking the meals which you hate to your family members, so that you might feel that  the diet food is much better.(Well, I did so :P )

Journey towards healthy lifestyle : Self-Challenge 3

You thought, I would finish of this post with just one self-challenge,huh? Nah,nah,nah...
Here comes, yet another simple self-challenge : Early dinner.

My usual dinner flow is like :
Preparing dinner - feeding my son - serving my husband - doing the dishes - eating. 

So, it would be not less than 10 or 10.30, I will have my dinner. I made a simple change to my above flow and now my dinner flow is like :

Preparing dinner - eating - feeding my son - serving my husband - doing the dishes 

Now, I tend to finish my dinner by 7.30 or maximum by 8 and shut my mouth after that. I feel light by the time go to bed. To reap more benefits,try adopting the inverted triangle food habit (heavy breakfast-medium lunch-light dinner) along with the early dinner habit.

I won't assure that you can lose weight by practicing these habits, but I will assure that these simple habits will affect your lifestyle positively and make you feel lighter and in turn happier.Always remember, it's not about becoming skinny, it's about becoming healthy. Adopt few such habits and you are one step closer to a healthy lifestyle,just like me :)

Couch-free-YOU

Being lazy, I always lack motivation and find excuse to start any new habit pertaining to lead a healthy lifestyle, be it a diet, going to gym, doing workouts at home and anything of that sort. So, how to arrive with a win-win situation, i.e., continue being lazy and nurture a healthy habit? :P

Here's when I convinced myself, to self-challenge and start doing simple things which, in course of time, will integrate into my lifestyle. These challenges may sound crazy up to the time you see a positive difference. If you are one of me, even if you are not,take up this teeny-tiny challenges and enjoy pushing yourself a little forward and be better than you were yesterday.

Journey towards healthy lifestyle : Self-Challenge 1

Do you know one silly thumb rule of any home - All furniture should be pointing to the television. Laying on the couch, with a TV remote and Netflix running non-stop would be one of the heaven-on-living-room kinda feeling,isn't it? Only until, we see ourselves in the mirror with fleshy-hanging muscles.

                                  

Blame the couch which gave the little piece of heaven and didn't let us get off it.While enjoying the pleasure laying in the couch for hours, we had totally suppressed the fact that our knee joints and spine will frail in near future because of such weary postures. The yoga instructors,usually call the criss-cross sitting position as "Indian sitting" and insist to habituate it. From a normal sitting style at home,it has become the posture-taught-in-yoga-classes. It was the moment of truth when I realize the fact behind my mom saying to sit down with the plates on the floor/carpet while eating. You may wonder what's the big deal in that, until you realize that your "abs" will have a hard time to grow more if you practice it. 

So, here's the push I made.Call it silly, I challenged myself, not to use the couch and sit with criss-cross legs, when I tend to sit for long time. I challenged to sit with my plates down on the floor, bend and eat (which I used to do in my childhood). I'm starting to enjoy it .I love the knuckle sound in my knee joints and the posture of my spine. They look pleased. Now, I strive to do many cool stuff,like DIY,reading,blogging instead of having a nap which I usually do if I were laying in the couch. 

To all who endeavors to adopt a healthy life style, give it a shot,bid adieu to your couch, feel your knee-joints and love the straight posture of your spine.

Come on, say with me "Bye-bye to all the passiveness which you gave me, my dear couch. I break up with you" :)

Just another H4 spouse

Life was so stressful then. The 'Salary credited' text didn't bring even a small smile in the corner of my lip. The longing for weekends seems to be the-wait-forever. The fear of Monday morning ruined the Sunday evenings. Family went virtual and work became real. Job gave the money but no meaning.

Then came that day. A fine Saturday morning when I was walking out of the railway station to go to my in-law's home to meet my toddler son and enjoy weekend with him. It was that morning, when I got an unusual call from my hubby who was in US. Yeah, I name it "unusual", because it was in that call where we made the decision of the life-time. "Let the wait be over. Do quit your job and come to US with our son". It gave me infinite mixed feelings than my hubby's can-you-marry-me?

With a typical Indian middle-class family, two incomes is one of the "MUST"s to run family with our breaths-not-hold. But if it is worth missing the family, was the question which we were unable to answer for a long time and my hubby finally arrived with an answer strongly.

Just after a month of that call, I was in US with my 3 year old and no job. No more work stress, no more virtual family, full time home-maker, who wants more? 

Subscribed for Netflix. "FRIENDS" episodes were playing in marathon. All Bobby Flay's shows were finished watching. Cursed Netflix for not posting new episodes of Food Network shows. Finished wondering about American homes in HGTV shows. The always-called slow reader became a book worm and completed reading all fictional books and the online order of books were kept on delivering to the house.

But, then came the day when the other side looked greener. With increasing expenses,the no-income-me started feeling idle. You know what the H4 spouses will do within few days they reach US, becoming FAT. All because of bored-eating. I was not an exception. 

And again I became stressed. Being fat, hair loss, idle, blah,blah,blah. I started adding more "blah"s to the i'm-stressed-because-of-this-list, until I came across a quote while doing a good-for-nothing-browsing.

"A YEAR FROM NOW, YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD STARTED TODAY"

It felt as if someone turned on the light above my head. How true the quote is!! What if I feel that I should have started today, after a year? That night didn't go peacefully. The next morning was born with bright light not just outside but in my thoughts too. It's not about being fat, having hair loss, having no income which stressed me, its the lifestyle. I promised to lead a happy,healthy lifestyle and removing all blahs from my i'm-stressed-because-of-this-list.

Dear H4 spouses, I'm one of you. Make this H4 period, not just to relax and getting stressed. Take this period to practice a happy, healthy lifestyle and spreading the vibes to your family and friends. At least if not for others, let it be for you. Join heart and hands with yourself and start a journey towards happy-healthy-you.

I will share my experiences, my trials, my errors in the upcoming posts. Please post your comments by taking your hands out of that "PRINGLES" box. :)