As we enter the year 2021, it’s important to reflect on a very important lesson we’ve learnt lately: physical health and mental well-being should come foremost in our life.
Although I have always been quite conscious about my health goals, as a mother and primary care giver to my family, I did ignore my health needs at some point last year. As mothers,sometimes we are so concerned of taking care of our child’s health that we do not give priority to our own health. I have seen and observed so many young mothers skip their meals and not consume proper nutritious food while being involved in child rearing.
While we inquire about various health drinks for our children we do not focus on adult needs. My husband has a very hectic work schedule and during the last one year when he was working from home, his routine went for a toss. While at office he would eat his lunch at the right time, being at home he couldn’t manage that. Work from home, though seemingly convenient initially, was difficult with respect to maintaining a healthy work-life balance and discipline. Health was ignored in the process.
However, 2020 was a year of realisation and introspection for me. Sometimes we forget that not only children but adults also need balanced nutrition to build immunity and gain strength in order to fight any disease.
So, here’s what you need to do to normalise life in India:
I. Build strength within and outside:
Being a fitness freak, I always believed that since I have a regular workout routine, a balanced diet and a balanced lifestyle I am in good shape. I assumed that I am on top of my game when it came to achieving my health goals. But gradually I realised once a person hits their 40’s, some changes in the body happen that you do not realise at all.
When you follow a balanced diet – including sufficient intake of protein, carbohydrates, fats and micronutrients – you lower the risk of nutritional deficiencies and associated chronic diseases as you age. After 40, one requires additional nutrition and I chose as my perfect partner to supplement my diet and workout goals. Ensure provides your body with 32 nutrients: including protein, calcium & vitamin D. Balanced macronutrients in Ensure are instrumental in supporting optimum utilization of protein within the body which helps maintain muscle mass.
II. Eat fresh and leafy vegetables:
While I would never miss a day of my workout, I have been quite lax in my food habits. However, when I started facing certain skin related issues, I realised that I cannot continue to ignore it. I needed to be very conscious about my food choices. I started eating fresh, leafy vegetables and fruits. I also made it a point to keep myself well hydrated. I started making food choices which would balance the water content requirements of the body.
III. Increase in physical activity:
Another realisation I had once things started getting back to normal was that a daily workout of 30 minutes alone does not ensure good health. One needs to be physically active during the course of the entire day. One needs to build strength so as to carry on daily activities with ease. One should not feel burdened with the pressure of the daily activities and feel too tired at the end of the day.
Slowly, with the right diet, right nutrition in the form of Ensure and a fixed routine, one can achieve better health. A small change that I made in my routine was that I started taking a brisk walk of 10-15 minutes after my meals in addition to my regular workout routine of exercising 30 minutes daily. This improved my overall health and I felt active during the entire day. This small change of increase in physical activity made me more mentally active as well, and it greatly improved the efficiency with which I completed all the daily tasks.
IV. Proper sleep pattern:
How so ever well you spend your day with the right amount of physical activity and the right food choices, if you do not follow a healthy sleep pattern, it is going to be very difficult to sustain a healthy lifestyle for a long duration. Any good effects of your workout regimen will only be sustainable if you follow a routine sleep pattern wherein you sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time in the morning. Another very important aspect before you sleep is to keep any screen away from you for at least half an hour before your bedtime.
Once you follow these four key factors in your daily life, you are sure to have #StrengthToLiveNonStop and better immunity. Children learn by observing so if you are going to follow a healthy lifestyle, your children are going to imbibe the same in their life.
I hope you ensure that you follow a healthy routine as things get normalised in India. Let me know in the comments whatchanges you’ve made in your health care routine and what measures do you take to stay active and achieve your health goals. Ensure the #StrengthToLiveNonStop.
References: https://ensureindia.in/ensure/balanced-nutrition
Yes , we may use to live with new NORMAL which surely needs a lots of exercising with intake of supplementary nutrition’s which boost immunity naturally.
All 4 pointers are so useful, Aesha. Glad you added sleep to the list, as most people tend to overlook that.
One thing we all have developed, due to lockdown is to get enough sleep. Thanks to curb on office commute, and we must keep that going, for long term health benefits. Taking approparite supplements, becomes also important especially in current times. Good to read your thoughts on this Aesha.
I definitely have an exercise routine in place, and also added the Ensure power to my diet to get stronger from Inside out.
I also trying out all u have stressed but sleep is evading me… trying my best
Sleep, eat, exercise – Such simple things and yet most of us are unable to make it work.
Of the lot, I can still imagine I have 1 and 2 under control. Not so much the last two. Especially my sleep cycle. Need to balance this all out properly in the days ahead.