My Journey Towards A Healthier Lifestyle

Making small lifestyle changes can do wonders for your fitness levels and lead to a healthy body and a mind at peace. Here is my journey.

Making small lifestyle changes can do wonders for your fitness levels and lead to a healthy body and a mind at peace. Here is my journey.

Since past one year I have been struggling to decide on what should I eat and what I should avoid putting in my mouth to look slim and trim.

Now my focus has shifted to become fit and not slim. I want to have a healthy body and I no longer struggle to remain slim. Though eating right can help me maintain my desired weight.

Now, the big question is what to eat?? Quinoa, kale, Brazilian nuts, almond milk…so many options in the diets that come up. There are lot of choices and lot of opinions. I read almost all the books within my reach to understand this puzzle. Believe me, I am still solving the puzzle. But I want to share with my readers what I have learnt so far.

Five changes in my lifestyle which really helped me –

What to eat for breakfast?

I would wake up confused every morning on the above question. After my so-called research, I found my answer.

First thing I do in the morning is drink water. I drink almost 2-3 glasses of water and I feel wonderful. Then, after an hour I eat fruits. Yes, a big platter of fruits. This keeps me full till 11 am. Trust me, I was not convinced about this before. Gradually as I adhered to this routine I surprised my mind. My body could survive with only fruits till 11 am and I felt energetic like never before.

If I am still hungry, then I eat soaked nuts like almond, walnut and dates.

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Avoiding tea and coffee in the mornings

One year ago I had stopped taking caffeine in the morning. I was addicted to coffee and would start getting a headache if I didn’t have one. One fine morning, I decided to get rid of this addiction.

First one week was terrible. I admit I had to even take painkillers in the morning to reduce the pain. I couldn’t do anything productive through out the week. In the end, it was worth it. Now, I no longer switch on my Nescafé machine in the morning as I managed to sell it! Two glasses of water does the trick for me because I had trained my mind and eventually my body.

Add more raw vegetables to my diet

I would have never thought of celery, cucumber, tomatoes and carrots as my snack. I would reach out for digestive cookies and cereal bars to snack on. Now I always have cut carrots and cucumber in the fridge to nibble on.

Relaxed state of mind

Recently I read a book – Mind over Medicine by Lissa Rankin, and it highly recommends us to calm our mind and relax. According to Lissa, our mind is either in stressful state or in a relaxed state. The relaxed state can accelerate our body’s self repair system. Mediation, massage, sleep and spiritually connected can relax our mind and our body can be on auto –repair mode.

Socialize

According to Lissa, socializing helps in dealing with diseases like depression, Alzheimer’s etc. I would always have an excuse to not attend the coffee mornings and socialize. But now I make it a point to actively meet and mingle with like-minded people. Lately, I have joined a book club where I can interact with friends who share the same passion.

Taking baby steps have helped me strike a balance in my life style. I still have a long way to go. What is your first step?

Image source: eating a salad by Shutterstock.

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About the Author

Meenu Goenka

Meenu believes in enjoying little things in life. Very social but at the same time could sit at home on a weekend and read a book instead! read more...

13 Posts | 38,671 Views

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