11 Small Shifts To Give You a Healthier (and Happier) Body
This helped me immensely!
I have been working out for nine years.
What started as a tough act every morning to shed 25 kgs and battle obesity eventually became a lifestyle change.
Since then, I’ve made sure to carve time to workout every morning 6 times a week no matter what.
However, as every journey eventually improves, mine did too.
For the last 5 months, I’ve been paying more attention to my nutrition than I did earlier. It happened because, for a few weeks, my tummy was bloated so badly. A kind of bloating that just did not go away.
That's when working with a professional helped me understand the importance of eating certain foods and certain times. In that one-month stint, I lost 4 kgs and 11.8 inches of fat.
But today I want to tell you eleven tiny shifts you can implement to become a healthier version of yourself.
1. Nutrition
This is the most important.
No amount of working out will help if you don’t eat well.
To lose weight, you can keep eating ‘healthy’ but unless you’re in a calorie deficit (you eat more calories than you burn), you won’t be able to shed those extra kilos.
This is also the hardest to do, so I thought I’d start this with a tough pill to swallow.
I now eat more nature’s goods than I ever have. More vegetables, juices, seeds, etc.
2. First thing in the morning
I don’t have caffeine as soon as I wake up anymore. I have fluids that make my gut happy, like honey water, aloe vera juice, amla juice, methi (fenugreek) seeds, jeera ajwain (cumin and carom seeds) water, etc.
That being said, consuming coffee on an empty stomach isn’t harmful.
It just doesn’t suit me.
Your body and mine are different. And the biggest mistake we make is thinking that one method works for everyone. Nope.
Hydrate yourself in the morning.
And then drink a morning elixir that works for your gut.
3. Going local
Eating what's freshly available is easier compared to complicated ‘healthy’ recipes.
I’ve ditched bread and eat more local food. In India, we have our own versions of bread and that’s what I’m leaning towards.
Some new Indian recipes I’ve tried are simple ‘dahi chiwda’ (curd + flattened rice), overnight rice+curd+jaggery, sattu (roasted gram flour) lassi, etc.
4. Ditching processed
I’ve got bread at home only twice since I started this journey with my nutritionist in the past 5 months.
I’ve also ditched processed food in daily life.
Biscuits, so-called healthy bars with 30g sugar, etc — are all down.
5. More protein
You probably know of this already because it pops up every time you search online about getting healthier.
I'll only give a quick brief.
According to Healthline, protein helps:
- Stay satiated for longer
- Improves strength and builds muscle
- Burn fat
- Boosts metabolism
I’m eating roughly 85 grams of protein a day.
6. More strength
Back when I started, I used to do cardio-lift-cardio for nearly 5 years! What a flawed concept.
Then I moved to CrossFit, functional training, and burnt my body instead of building it.
For the past 2 years, I’ve been following an app for my daily routine. It had roughly a 70% new workout every day with lots of jumps here. That made me feel that I’ve achieved something today.
This was the issue. Too much cardio.
I now don’t burn myself out anymore or become all tired.
I lift 4 days a week and do active recovery, cardio, or yoga on the other days.
It doesn’t make me feel as ‘dead’ as jumping around, but the feeling of being able to lift heavier gradually and looking toned feels amazing. Not to forget that you burn calories all day when you lift weights.
Building muscle doesn’t only help you burn fat but helps you long term. That time when you pick up something heavy and your back hurts for days? Yeah, that won’t happen if you lift weights and strengthen your muscles.
7. Not feeling guilty
After having achieved what I’ve wanted all my life, I’m also working on the inner chatter.
What happens in the space between your ears matters.
How does feeling guilty all day for what you ate help, anyway? It doesn’t.
One of my progresses is not feeling guilty if I’m in a situation where I don’t get healthy food. Beating myself up for things not in my control is a terrible feeling.
8. Early dinners
I know some places in the West eat dinner as early as 6 pm. In India, we eat between 8:30–10:30 pm. Super unhealthy, I know.
We eat heavily at a time of the day when our metabolic rate slows down and we’re close to bedtime.
From eating at 8:30 pm I now eat on/before 7 pm.
9. Un-learning habits
Working with a nutritionist has helped me unlearn habits to build new ones. Even when I travel now, I’m more mindful.
I carry some chia seeds when I travel.
I’ve learnt that I need to eat a banana or some carbs within an hour of waking up else I get a headache.
I’ve also learnt that I don’t need to eat so much. I eat small quantities when I eat mindfully.
I won’t elaborate more on this, as this is advice tailored to your body’s specific needs.
10. Working on emotional eating
Do you binge or eat something sweet when you’re low?
Me too.
We need to work on it because we can’t use food to feel better. It’s potentially harmful.
I’ve come closer to understanding my body.
A random sweet craving in the afternoon means it’s time for lunch and I’m hungry. I also don’t eat when I’m sad which I used to eat earlier.
11. Enjoying eating
Enjoy your food, because your energy matters.
Don’t keep counting.
Don’t keep thinking of its nutrition.
Don’t label it with modern-day fancy names. Just eat and enjoy that moment.
Spend time with your family or just be mindful of yourself and your environment when eating alone. Use your senses instead of numbing them.
It’s more fun that way.
While I’m a complete foodie, I want to be fit so I can do everything in my capacity to be disease-free.
I’ve found a sweet balance between my love for galauti kebabs, desserts, and all things healthy.
Slight changes can lead to a big, big difference.
Moreover, this helped me heal my acne, which I’ve dealt with all my life. A happy gut leads to all things good.
I hope this helps you too. All the best!