Over the last couple of years I have worked with quite a lot of people and made them realize that being healthy, both at the Emotional & Physical level is just about following 3 fundamental rules. Yes, if you can already see them coming they are – Eating healthy, Exercising & Consistency.
As with a tripod, all the three legs are critical and the balance tends to alter if any one of the areas is not in sync with the other. Working with people as their Life & Wellness coach over the years has made me realize that keeping it simple, works wonderfully well. “Uncomplicated is the key” and the way to go forward. Hence I always make it a point to avoid technical jargon’s or in-depth assessment of any particular area. To begin with I would like to focus on the area to begin with,which is Eating healthy –
Eat every 2-3 hours: By eating every couple of hours you are ensuring that your body does not go onto the reserve mode,which according to me, causes the most & long term damage. This also helps in keeping the metabolism spiked & blood sugar level steady. I remember that when we were camping in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas, we used to keep our camp fire burning for hours by adding small quantities of wood every now and then. I see a huge similarity in both these areas.
Eat complex carbs & Lean protein: Try and keep your diet rich in complex carbs like whole wheat, nuts, legumes and certain fruits & vegetables. This will ensure a steady energy supply. Lean protein source could be chicken, eggs, fish, beans, nuts, legumes, and lentils. See what suits you and work on it accordingly.Both of these play a critical role in the overall wellness of an individual.
Do not look for perfection: It is humanly not possible to eat healthy all the time. What I have seen over the years with my clients and myself, is that if you are conscious about eating healthy you will slip up like me at times, but there will also be a huge effort in making the next meal healthy. That is the key, which cements the internal shifts and also what makes the big difference in the end.
The next area would be Exercise
Look at working out 3-4 times a week: Exercise need not necessarily mean working out in gym or running long distances. Any kind of exercise which makes you be on your feet(so the choice is plenty) is good way to start off. Try to do it regularly for 30-40 minutes a day at the minimum 3-4 days a week.
Bring in the fun element: By working on making exercise a fun activity your brain does not consider it a threat. Like me, you will eventually look forward to working out. This could happen if there is some wonderful music being played in the background or if there are a great set of people for company. Once you work on the fun component, there will be no looking back for sure. Sometimes it helps to know how the human mind works. Therefore making it a consistent habit, is what would be the last area of focus
Once you are focused in both these areas, then you are by default riding the consistency wave. Just like a good surfer who catches a good wave, you will tend to ride it and make the best use of it. The three things I have mentioned will play a big role in improving most of the areas of your life to a large extent. If you are creative and open minded, then you can use the same principles in other areas of your own life. When it does come to investing on yourself, do whatever it takes to do, because the biggest investment one can do is on themselves & like me you will never regret on it.
Many people with whom I do interact, think that staying fit is a huge challenge and they see it as an insurmountable mountain. Technically they tend to give up even before they start. My challenge was to make it a part of everyone’s lives by just focusing on the basic and keeping it simple. The whole idea of this Blog post was to make it as simple as possible so that anyone could begin the journey to being fit and healthy. I would love to hear as always from you, on your thoughts and how much of an impact these pointers have on you. Will look forward to hearing from you either on my Face book Fan page or at my mail ID coach@satishrao.in