One solution to get smarter,fitter ,happier .

Just get some Sleep.No jokes .
That is how important Sleep is.

Ironically in times of Stress ,people take recourse to complicated strategies to de- stress.I think they should take a warm bath, a good massage if possible,have a very light meal and just Sleep. Switch off the cell, the Tee vee ,the net even the call bell.

In the whole continuum of food ,nutrition,rest ; if we can prioritise only one thing ,let it be Sleep. Its easiest to do and the positive repercussions of a good nights sleep are cascading

And loss of sleep does scary things to us in the long term.Not as in causing them directly but as in being symbolic of an unhealthy lifestyle . Weight gain is of course directly linked to sleep debt.

zoomhere:Infografaday

 I follow following sleep habits :

• Dinner by seven.
• No acidic (starchy and sweet foods) at night.
• No electronics,no lights on in bedroom.
• Getting some movement dialled in.
• No coffee after 12 afternoon -am extremely sensitive to caffeine.

What are your thoughts on Sleep ? What helps ? What is a major obstacle?

Recovery.

When Sleep does not happen : nothing much else happens.

Marley gives a lesson on how to catch the zzzzz.!

Workout without Recovery Time is like serenading  injury and adrenal fatigue.

I am amazed at the number of people I see, for whom sleeplessness is a way of life .They do not feel anything amiss too.But the real danger is when heavy workouts are piled on a sleep deprived body.Now telling someone to go to bed sounds like you are trying to be their nanny.

But actually these simple common sense things : following our biorhythms, getting off the computer at night and maintaining a sleep-work balance is what results in long term wellness .

Its not that I do not miss sleep at times .The last two days, sudden last minute changes in a work programme had me stressing. A bit of sniffle piled on and I lay awake in the bed working out new logistics to get the job done.So its Ok, that I skipped work- out for two days except a bit of stretching .Just as we must have a compassionate attitude while placing an additional work demand on a coworker ; we must be kind to our body while seeking a better performance .And kindness means a bonus time off when the mind is in  a twiddle.

And kindness also means some Pampering. I did not want to as it is so time-consuming - but forced myself to go and get a Abhyangam done .The warm fragrant oil -the kneading of pressure points -the hot steam it all leads your unwilling body to relax and the mind to doze off .So on the third day ,my sleep and my digestion are almost on track.I have been able to revisit my blog which I have been missing.And I am sure my Body will repay me at workout time tomorrow with Gratitude !!

So all you workout warriors  remember :  Sleep is the secret talisman of  long term fitness and Health .

Midnight -my child's even Breath 
I hold the girlish palm 
Smoothly soft against my calloused hands
And a hesitant ,reluctant Calm
Wends its unwilling way :
I let the Night Reclaim her Empire of Sleep.
Quieten the eddies of the mind  that waylay
the dreams that keep me chugging on
to chase another day.                   
                  

The Imbecilorexia on Orthorexia.

Sundays when Spring is in the air are my favourite days.There is nowhere to rush to. As there are no schoolbuses to catch ,it is also the one day when I can fit in a morning outdoor workout .

The early morning sun slants off the leaves and glistens in the dew -laden grass.Crisp wintery air a garden not yet over-run with packs of kids.I do bear crawls,tyre flips and climb stairs with a backpack.I am whooshed at the end of it but Proud !! and Happy as I have a wonderful meal to look forward to which I can smell in the kitchen !

My Sunday Menu has sol curry ,from the fresh-off-the-dam fish .

An Avial spin-off with winter veggies,which I am fond of not just because it helps me deal with the uneven produce of my backyard :)) Twenty broad beans ,two carrots, unidentified local beans -ten numbers and one sweet potato !!!

Thick whole milk curds;free range eggs cooked in ghee.Fresh guavas and gooseberries of the season. I feel good and full of life.And I love eating righteously and intelligently.At forty two I get fitter by the day.

• But as I scan the papers I am told that Healthy eating is now a Disorder called Orthorexia.Being concerned with quality of your food is a sure give away of this disease. Really ?

And my response is like :"Sure, I’m orthorexic .And proud to be whatever other jargon you devise .But if I weren’t, I’d be fat and unhealthy.” And I know which “disorder” sounds better to me !!And with Pollan, Sisoon and Marion Nestle around ,I am in jolly good company too !!

The writer goes on to list how having excess of papaya/carrots /spinach /drinking too much water can cause digestive and other problems .To her credit she also lists too much soyabean , tea and shady protein shakes in the list.

Of course ,I get that anything, when taken to an extreme, can interfere with a person’s life .

Honestly! I have NEVER EVER overeaten on spinach and carrots in my life - and believe me I have tried,back when I was an overfat lettuce cruncher.The only time when eating fruit made me sick was when between ages six to ten I was left to my own devices in vicinity of guava /mango orchards and I ate too many unripe ones throughout the holiday afternoons.And which of you have got drunk on water ?

Conversely I have gotten sick of ridiculously moderate portions of junk ,and spent aeons with acne ,acidity and such unhappy things when I was being normal and moderate with "everything".And we are not even talking of weight gain.

What the lady seems to be riling against is dangers for ill- informed folks who treat bran as fairy dust and rush from lauki juice to acai berries in search for a solution to ill health.However the solution lies not in labelling eating for health as a disorder to be wary of !

Walking unescorted, Flying an airplane ,wearing short skirts and playing Football have all been labelled as behaviours to be wary of .Even voting was considered Dangerous not so long ago! Women who did these things were officially suffering from Hysteria or Dementia.

The added platitudes that everything is good in moderation and that there are no good and bad foods is the kind of equivocation that is called dickheadedness in plain English.

There are bad foods.The world is full of sugared,margarined, flavoured, textured,coloured treated, pesticide laden ,hormoned, modified stuff .Some of it even struts under the self -bestowed label of " healthy" 

natalie dee

This rifeness of Bad Foods or food like substances ,has given rise to popular concern about eating Healthy .No one bothered about eating Healthy a hundred years back, for most ,if not all ,eatable stuff was nutritious and wholesome.Today if you have to find the whole ,the natural and the fresh you have to make a genuine effort.

In the crazy upside-down world that we are living in ,anyone who is not bothered about the quality of food they consume -has a disorder -apart from all the chronic disease that they will eventually collect. What shall we call it ? Imbecilorexia ??

becoz everything is good in moderation!!

Honestly !what we need is not more counselling for folks who worry about eating healthily or cooking up mental disorders -the more the merrier -but giving people better paradigms to deal with the messed up Food System . How about more Real Food to start with ??

A Lesson Relearnt .

quickmeme

A day full of:

Obtuse Rules,Fat Reports.

Terse mails, Confusing Clarifications,

Excel Worksheets in Infinite Permutations.

Flowing like the flooded Amazon.

Eyes Burning ,Caffeine Yearning.

Wired,Tired ,Glucose Fired 

brain  bawling :Pick Me Up

Tummy yowling : Again ! WhaT THE f#*k !

All rules tumble

As Grey Matter jumbles

Bring on the Salt,let's be sweet .

Past Caring ,I eat and EAT.

And earn my Reward ,learn my lesson
Of a numb and bloated Discombobulation
Now seeking solace in a Walk and a Poem
I Plan Repentance at the Altar of Goddess Squat. 

And muse:
What you give to the Gut 

The Gut gives Back

Her lessons always sure and swift

Though the Brain's Finesse she may lack.                          

Is Fitness the pursuit of Thinness?

Health and Beauty come in all Shapes and sizes !

The entry point for this debate being the Sonam Kapoor Confession at a book -launch about her desire to be even more thinner.Her refreshing candour also highlights the fact that the desire to look good-which is  also to say -thin enough -is the prime motive behind women taking up diets and/or workout regimens.

Right out I agree that carrying overmuch fat is probably not good for our arteries, joints, hormones and probably peace of mind too ! It is inimical to the feminine desire of fitting in little black dresses, low waisted jeans, backless cholis , hipster sarees and suchlike.And if aesthetic considerations impel one to lose the flab it is great ! There is also a seductively specious logic to the whole thing :what possibly can be the harm in it ? As my friend put it:

" If the paragons of beauty and fashion are showing us that skinny is possible and beautiful, what more motivation is there ? I , for one, don't see the skinny models as a problem. If there is external pressure to look like them, at least most of us will make an attempt to head in that direction if not actually get there. I don't mind that pressure and I also don't mind that I can't be as perfect looking as them but it is always good to have a role model.Skinny is Elegant .It is beautiful to admire and wear."

CBS

So I will frame the question thus :

If being fat is bad for health, does it follow that being thin is good ? And is fitness the pursuit of thinness ?

My take on this is :

• I think people should be able to look howsoever the hell they want to. Curvy, thin, lean muscular,anorexic ... whatever. As long as they are doing these things for themselves,their happiness and health and  not to please someone else's standards or eyes.{Of course this can not apply to models and actresses who get paid for the way they look.So do you see the inherent illogic in having a role model whose life hinges on a certain look and applying her methods to your life which involves studies,career,family , household and of course your health and beauty ? And you will not get paid for the trauma as well :)}

• However ,through this blog , I  do want women  to stop getting all confused about fitness. I want women to stop hating themselves because they don't look like THAT girl on the cover .I  want to tell them that fitness is an Ability that can be acquired : like you acquired an education, worked for a career , climbed up the Corporate ladder, or perfected the art of baking a millefeiulle  cake.Everyone can get better flexibility,improved strength and cardiovascular ability;and thereby look much better than their unfit selves.However everyone can not be size zero.Fitness is about loving your  body enough to give it all the support to be healthy.Thinness maybe your personal choice or compulsion , and by itself is fine , but thinness presented as the only way to be beautiful or chic is a huge problem causing body image issues in even very pretty and decidedly thin girls like Sonam .

• Whether a thin you will be healthy or not depends on the methods used to achieve that thinness.Some of you can achieve thinness through extreme hypo-caloric diets and/or extreme cardio training for long and relentless hours.This type of regime removes muscle mass first ( because a starving body pushed to physical work wants to get rid of the metabolically expensive muscle tissue).It attacks fat mass as it deems fit -so folks may have saggy bottoms, cute little paunches and saddlebags that refuse to scoot even if they look thin otherwise .They will also have baggy skin from wherever fat-loss has happened. Because they just deflated the balloon and forgot to replace the bone-bag with well shaped muscle structure . On the other hand ,you can also use an intelligent strategy of clean eating : getting a lot of wholesome ,good calories and substitute some of those walks and Suryanamaskars  with a biweekly dose of regular Strength-Training to lose the flab.

• Which brings me to the further rant : NEVER judge a woman's health by her thinness. Evolutionally ,survival of the fittest was the law of nature.Emaciated thinness led to panic buttons being switched on - was a famine on it's way ?

• Fitness helped a cavewoman forage,run from prey,mate, reproduce ,feed and protect her offspring . All these activities needed a healthy level of active muscles as also a decent amount of bodyfat - not over fat , but enough to bide irregular food supply without the fertility hormones giving in.

• If thinness/underweight is not your genetic disposition ,then short of extreme elite level fitness , it can be ushered in only with chronic malnourishment. Need proof ? Look around you : it is so endemic in the non-Shining India.What irony then that rich urban women are told to embrace eating less and exercising more as a strategy to get thin.Is it a surprise then that it  results in all the associated fertility /health problems : anemia, osteoporosis ,ovulatory mayhem ,poor reproductive health and a constant feeling of being weak and fragile? So ask yourself do you really need to be thin that bad ? 

•  I hasten to add  that some of us may have a skinny Genetic mould  and may operate normally at far lower bodyfat levels.Likewise some of us may have a slightly broader mould,and carry more fat levels to feel perfectly fit. Fitness however has everything to do with how fast you run,or climb ,how much and how well you can lift and how well your body can cope with the life changes and stressors .All this depends on how well your bone-muscle structure operates. If you are thin without muscle mass ,whether genetically or as a result of dieting, your health will suck sooner or later.Everything will be a burden.And we already know what being very fat will do.

• Optimum body fat levels can vary from 15% to 25% of your weight. However whether you are more skinny or less does not determine your fitness.I know I am repeating but its worth it :Fitness is determined by muscle strength, joint and bone health all of which are inter-dependent.

• Always take what you see in print and screen with a pinch ...nay ! a bori of salt! Yeh Photoshop aur Airbrushing ka zamana hai ! Even Sonam said that Photoshop is her best friend - and she is hardly 22 year old!
• The Real Girl Belly Project will open your eyes   It attempts to show how the constant inundation with glossy unreal images gives us unreal expectations.Thin,fat,curvy,skinny ,the lord God made us all -all of us can strive for good health -which is not equivalent to that portrayed by a model or a screen goddess.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Why must I compare to all

The airbrushed bellies I have seen

Idealized on page and screen?

Instead, I vow that I will dare

To love, appreciate, and share

My belly, be it round or flat.

Hey Media, whatcha think of that?"

A Cookbook to fall in love with : The Suriani Kitchen .

 

I had no idea what Suriani was.I saw this one on a corner shelf - and just fell in love with the cover photo.Although my naani's kitchen was in the hindi heartland, there were elements of nostalgia I connected to - the brass pots,the achar barnis,the wicker baskets,the glass lamps and the bhatti chulhas on which curries were slow cooked.It brought back memories mixed with flavours that are hard to recreate in today's fast and faddish times.So this book kind of found me .

Now I am no Gourmet.I like simple food,simply cooked.And most South Indian food is to me perfect.Awesome to taste and simply superbly healthy.I know how to rustle up idly,sambar,dosa,avial but am stumped by Non vegetarian cooking.The Syrian Christians (or Suriani) of Kerala are pros at cooking fish,fowl and meat in amazingly lip-smacking ways.This book is a journey into the kitchens and feasts of the author's past and offers a peep into the Syrian Christian families and their cuisine.Snippets and stories precede every section and also each recipe .Pretty pencil sketches by the author's sister are evocative of the word pictures.

A few core ingredients; a whole lot of ingenuity; the natural goodness of fresh spices and voila - a dish that stays with you.No fancy garnishes,exotic ingredients and artful presentations are needed.These recipes are such that your senses as well as your appetite will be replete .

This book has helped me to mitigate my timorousness in preparing fish and fowl. I seldom knew what to do beyond the most basic of recipes. The treasure-trove of simple country style recipes has helped me realize that a lot can be done by playing around with a few basic ingredients !! 
I tried the Trivandrum fried chicken and the liver fry recipe -and was proud and pleased !! Never knew that a bit of steaming the liver before frying can make so much difference in taste.Country omlettes too.And if a neophyte can appreciate the recipes, then imagine what a pro can do !The author also has an instinctive feel for Real Food.Here is how she introduces her section on poultry and eggs:

"Most rural homes in Kerala have a backyard however tiny with a few chickens and ducks scartching about. The country hens and ducks produce tasty eggs and meat.It is disappointing to cook with large flavourless pieces of mass produced birds ... "

The veggie and lentil preparations are just as great (pineapple in Yogurt and mustard sauce;yams with coconut; sweet and sour ginger curry) .The dessert and snack sections also sounds very unique and so are the fish and meat pickles,barni soup and a host of chutneys. I enjoyed reading it -still have to try a lot of stuff. 
A claypot (chatti)  and a urli (for dry roasting meats) are on my list of kitchen acquisitions now.Kokum,rice flour,tamarind and my jar of extra virgin coconut oil ,I already have :)

Confessions Of A Serial Dieter : Book Review.

 

An alternative name for Kalli Purie's Book could have been : "All the things you should never ever do to lose Weight .

This books tells how she went from  103 kgs to 59 kgs in three years flat.If you are looking for a book that will help you decide which is the best Diet /best Workout for weight-loss then this is not it.If however you are/ have been fat and want to hear stories of  all the peaks and crashes of a roller-coaster journey towards ideal weight ,then read this book .Cruelty, guilt, loathing ,the desperate clutching at every straw is all chronicled in snappy prose.

This is the story of a girl who grew up in a Dysfunctional Food Environment .Where Chocolate Fridge and Cookie cupboard and suitcases full of imported cereals ,hotel buffets and eat to stuff teenage parties were a fixture and where her mother sought to even out the calories by packing  Jam -Toast (without butter) tiffins, to slim down her fatty daughter.No wonder the author again and again refers to her inability to control her eating as a kid and as a teenager.As an adult she constantly pitches her will-power against food with mixed results. For now she is on a peak and we pray that it is for keeps !

What I liked about this book is

1. Candour about her body image issues ,how despite losing weight she can not let go of the fat demon .The insight in to the psyche of fat. How to tell a person that they need to do something about their weight.
2. The candid exploration of the shortcuts to skinny like Tummy Tuck and Liposuction and how all the gory fine-print in the surgeons office put the fear of God in her.
3. The rather hilarious : How to employ and get the max out of personal trainers : (they should be neither too smelly nor too sexy! ) 
4. All the psychological tips and tricks to motivate yourself to eat better and to workout regularly.Love she says is the ultimate motivator !

However this Diet Confessional has its flaws :

1. The author's journey to weight loss is about looking Good to fit in dresses.While some occasional reference to good health is made it is obvious that if a diet promises weight loss whether Cabbage, dahi-Papaya or Can-Can -she tries it and equally swiftly moves on to another !Nutrition and long term health implications be damned !
2. The author lives in fear of butter ,cream and full -fat milk eats sookha roti-chawal-popcorn and keeps counting calories.(Which ,nutritionally speaking , is a suicidal strategy for a woman's thyroid and Insulin and is bound to rebound sooner than later.)
3. Naturally, she has in pursuit of her skinny self ,made a pact with Hunger ,and Disengaged from food . Some of the strategies she follows are fine but I find a very basic Lifestyle problem -if the food choices for fat loss are such that they keep you hungry on a routine basis ,and have you testing your willpower at every meal.
4. She believes in slimming down particular body parts and body sculpting (whatever that means ) and doing ab crunches (despite her weak back), and recommends a daily session with the weighing scale ( can you hear me groan?).

If I were Gary Taubes ,I would say that Overeating is a result : not the cause of Obesity.If people are making the wrong food choices then their appetite signals will go haywire -because even if they are eating a lot their cells and tissue are not getting nourished . Read,Purie's book, but be warned if you are tempted to try !
What has been your experience with  weight loss Diets ?

Jiving Jarawas and the Endless Circle of Malaise.

New Internationalist.

 Somedays I want to run away and live in a remote forest hut- eat fermented rice in the morning and drink toddy in the evening.Only there are hardly any forests left and even where they are - the dwellers can not be safe from sick city-slickers.We buy more ,consume more ,feel smug in our safe,selfish islands of prosperity. But all around us our greed is turning against us .Should we really doubt the Apocalypse?

• Malnourished kids -48% kids don't have enough calories to achieve normal weight !
• Diseases of Over-consumption -diabetes and obesity are rife !!

• Exploited Andaman Tribals -let us jail the messenger.Administration will take action against the videographer !!
• After all we are the world's largest growing Consumer Market !! Whats wrong with paying our way to a Human Safari :P

• Adulterated Milk -89% of our milk samples are contaminated !But our cows are Holy :)
• Health foods and Health Industry is the fastest growing segment .So btw, is the Disease and Doctor Industry ! -no surprises there !!

• Worst Bureaucracy in Asia ( maybe - that implies in the World too)
• But we still want more Bureaucracy to implement the mammoth Food Security Bill ! To correct malnutrition among the poor mothers and kids- which different programmes like ICDS ,mid-day meal and Aanganwadis -all implemented by the same machinery could not tackle !
• As Abhijit Bannerjee recommends ,whats wrong with cash transfers ? -After decades of fruitlessly trying to make the poor fit the shoe why not go for a shoe that fits the poor ?
  Can a starving destitute child/widow produce 10 certificates in triplicate to get food security benefits ?

Raj Ganpath : A Talk.

Wholesome has nattered happily about the fitness entrepreneur Raj Ganpath . Now is the time to meet the man ! So without much ado and though a snap of his gym is still awaited -and I find pic-less posts a bit bereft :P ; I will let the young man speak his mind .Get more of him at harder,better,faster,stronger -blog.

Exercises for (healing) a Hernaited Disc .

Kalpna Shenoy  put up a very relevant question :" How can I Strength Train with a Herniated Disc ? Or indeed do any Exercises with a herniated disc ?"
First of all what is a Herniated disc ? What causes it ?

• The discs are tough cushions between the vertebrae . When uneven pressure as by years of poor posture,forward slouching,prolonged sitting ,hunching,bad rounded back bending and yes - injuries, falls,accidents can cause pinching of the disc and its outer covering degenerates.

Core Concepts

What Not To Do ?
After this very brief explanation let us go into what exercises ( Strength Training or others) not to do with slip disc,hernia or back pain.

• Some Exercises will be wrong - ones which involve forward bends (many yoga postures) ,toe touches and sit-ups.Even walking or running in wrong ( back in lordosis,stomach sticking out ) postures aggravates spinal stress.
• In Strength Training :  Exercises which put vertical pressure or involve bending down with a weight can easily go wrong if you have disc problems. So avoid standing presses and curls, bent -over barbell rows, loaded back squats, heavy deadlifts, bench pressing till postural corrections are in place.

Two Principles:

• The real role of your abs is to stabilize your spine.Disc problems can be offset if you learn to use your abs a lot in daily activities like sitting and walking.

• The Stability of your Spine depends on the Mobility of joints below and above it.The hip joint needs to be active and strong . So must be the thoracic spine.When the hips are weak (as is common when people sit for long periods of time) - the back takes the load and when upper back is stiff,lower back becomes mobile -which spells spinal disaster.

Our motive in doing any exercise is healing and strengthening the upper back and abs so that pressure is taken off the weak back .Also Postural Reform ,less sitting and better bending techniques are integral to back health.The muscles used to maintain neutral spine are your abdominal and core muscles.You must learn to wake up those sleeping core musculature to support your spine.
Rule I  : No forward bending .

• You will basically ditch toe touches and sit-ups and any halasanas. And take up easy stretches that involve taking the spine backward -e.g cobra pose .Or going down on all fours -like downward dog and cat stretches. Crawls are the greatest heart pumping exercise you can ever do.Also stretches to open up the thoracic spine are great (see doorway stretch below ).Long distance cycling or spinning classes in the gym are not advisable for the same reason.

Rule 2 : Strength without vertical loading and bending.

• All bodyweight exercises like squats, pushups and pullups and hangs are good as gold -for they do not involve spinal loading. Single leg exercises like lunges,single leg deadlifts, and split squats are awesome as they can be done while holding a dumbell or a kettlebell in your hands and will strengthen your  hips and knees -thereby aiding that weak back. They also help you in engaging the core at a sub-conscious level which means you will automatically squat down while lifting a laundry tub or while making a bed and will use your upper back and arms to keep something on an overhead shelf and lunge to stop yourself from skidding on a slippery surface.

 Rule 3 : Machines have a place - a small place though.

• Machine movements will be more doable -- dips, pulldown variations, torso supported press and lat machines, leg press and extensions --  but I am not a big fan of machines except in the rehab period. There is little carryover in real life and they can become a bad habit.Keep them as an occasional -once a week thing.

Rule 4 :  Core is the seat of all power.

• Honestly -the highest form of yoga is awakening the kundalini which is at the base of the spine.Core is everything at this juncture -the intersection of glutes - abs -spine - quad . To strengthen Core ,acquire a Swiss ball .To go to a higher level acquire a TRX Suspension Training system . Both are available at Yogi Sports -Mumbai. Or use some dog leashes !Regular exercises like bodyweight squats and planks become much more core -intense with these simple use at home exercise aids.

Rule 5 :  What you do outside gym matters more !

•  Honestly  doing twenty minutes of stretches and core exercises is of marginal help if you do not take care to sit up straight - take breaks every 40 minutes of sitting, bend by using your legs and glutes instead of the back and so on.The purpose of exercise is to help you identify and target the weak links. But if you sabotage the good work in gym by your spinal stupidity outside it -I can only pray for Good Sense to prevail.

Have more questions ? Need more detailed inputs ? Shoot them ! We all must get the Core Curriculum dialled in !

Stronger You in 2012.

We sweat so much over our Financial plans. So that we get the highest returns on Investment.Is there a foolproof way to maximize returns on time spent in getting fit ? Especially with New Year ?

Yes ! by putting some Strength Training ka tadka in your fitness routine !It revvs up the metabolism ,adds muscle and bone strength and will make ageing a lot pleasant.

There is a lot of foundation work one can do right at home . Just by following these dictums .

Beginners puzzle over which exercises to do.How may times.How much weight to use.The correct way to do the moves.

Some common-sense principles can kick start your journey.And when you understand why you are doing what you are doing -it  is far better than robot like sticking to a workout plan of some celebrity !

Criteria for choosing Exercises.

• Every workout should incorporate exercise for your body's major muscles ; they have the biggest potential for getting stronger and for revving up your metabolism.Which are these muscles ? Look at yourself : mark the legs - front (quads) and back (hams). The glutes ,abs and lower back system which is your core.The upper back and shoulders .

• Exercises that focus on small muscles like bicep curls or which target the big muscles minimally (leg raises ) are  a waste of precious workout time.

• Exercises which closely resemble the actions that your body is designed to do in everyday life will yield the greatest benefit.Hence perhaps twisting yourself in Hastakarnasana is of less metabolic benefit than being able to squat with your ass to grass .

This means whichever exercises you do should involve use of the leg -glute-core complex or the back-shoulder -core complex .And they should use these muscles in a functional ,practical way. 

• So that you get stronger in everyday work like climbing a flight of stairs ( lunges ,split squats),pushing the heavy couch to another room ( push-ups ) or lifting laundry basket to load it in the machine (deadlifts) ,making a bed ( good mornings,squats ) and taking out pots and pans from the top -most shelf or keeping or taking out a heavy suitcase on the luggage rack of a train ( back rows ,pulldowns,pullups,shoulder presses).Doing these multi-joint ,compound movements will make you strong,fit and athletic .

How much weight to use ?

• Once you can do twenty five bodyweight squats at a go or ten push-ups you are good to add external resistance.Which means take any weight you are confident that you can pick for 8 reps.Reduce it by twenty five percent .And then go ahead with the full range of motion for 8-10-12 reps.

Correct Form.

Every exercise has a correct technique .But certain common-sense things always stand true across the board.Be sure to see youtube videos of trusted channels like Performance University to know what correct form looks like.

1. Correct form is always about shortest possible distance (the straight line).Your legs and back are a lever if used correctly (without arching ) and help you to use the strength of the core (glutes and abs ) to do all moving of heavy objects.
2. The object to be lifted should be close to the body - so that there is least pressure on the back.
3. Always exhale at the time of maximum exertion - for example when going up in a squat or when pulling up in a pullup.Exhale at the hardest part of the motion and inhale during the easier part.

How many times should I Strength Train ?

• Three is best, two times will work,one is less but will do to start with.

Do I need to Join A Gym?

• If you are able to find a Gym that supports free weight ,functional movements -like  Raj Ganpath's Quad in Chennai-it will be a great motivator.Otherwise Strength Training is easily done at home with minimal equipment ( a kettlebell, a basic set of dumbells).
• Alternate your workouts - using different compound free weight /bodyweight exercises gives time to recover and is  safest and metabolically best.
• Machines are not a good place to start because they focus on isolating muscles and making a move efficient and easy.And many have no carryover in real life eg leg extensions and leg press .

How long should I work out ? 

• When you work out using resistance and by targeting your big muscles - you get a bigger bang for your fitness buck in lesser time. Four exercises - 24 reps - in sets of 8 (3 sets )  or 12 reps (two sets) will set you back by twenty five minutes at the most -including warm-up !

What more questions do all of you have to overcome your hesitation in adding some Strength Work in your Fitness Routine ?

How not to be Moderate .

lululemon

 I am not good at Moderation. 

I am good at going all out for things - till I lose steam and flop down with exhaustion.In many areas of my life I still battle with achieving the Moderation / Indulgence set point.
Internet usage for example .Or reading .I frequently get so taken up with a book that I forget Housework.Worst is, sometimes I use my Hobbies/Interests as a pretext for not doing things that need to be done .One has to file IT returns ,balance books, read legal fine print,clear official obligations, sun the winter clothes,wash dishes,mend the hems and de-clutter .But it is so easy to get carried away by whatever is immediately gratifying and become temporarily blind to what needs to be done, so that we can savour our joys for the  long haul. 

• When we don't do all the dull things ,all the fun stuff can end in a  bad trip. 

In matter of eating and exercise as you know through this blog,I have flirted with thrills of excess and found peace in moderation.That respect for Moderation stems from having savoured,experienced and wallowed in both the pleasures as well as pitfalls of excess .And a strong desire to sustain my love-affair with healthy living  for  a longer while than a stop and go attitude permits. 

Mere over-indulgence comes with a finite expiry date. And undesirable fallouts. Mindless moderation feels like punishment.

So let us accept this. Moderation is indeed not very Exciting .Or Flamboyant . Great singers,poets ,writers ,artists did not become so by being Moderate in their zeal for art !

When Moderation is fuelled by guilt or sacrifice it backfires. Likewise when Immoderation is focussed on Excess for the sake of Excess or because everyone else is Indulging in Excess then probably one needs to take a hard look.

So as Christmas and New Year are being ushered in ,do take Pleasure in whatever means a lot to you be it Food ,Drink, Socializing,Clothes ,Jwellery , Gadgets,Holidaying . 
Just ensure that they are the Instruments of your Pleasure ; you are not becoming the Handmaiden to them  :))
And also let all of us make time for things that really Light us up from inside ,which bring Joy for the long haul and do them . Four things you can safely Indulge in Immoderately ( apart from water and piping hot chicken-soup ! )  :

• Love .

• Compassion .

• Laughter .

• Compliments :))

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you !!

Farm Glut and the FDI Gorilla .

The recent Potato Glut in Punjab has again got the FDI supporters telling us  sagely - if Walmart was here this would not have happened. This when Punjab is the most advanced State in terms of Agrobusiness. Bharti -Walmart and Pepsi have been  firmly ensconced for some time there now . Of course they must have lifted all the potatoes their godowns could hold but there  is more and the carrying cost is . 

A simplistic view would be to have more of Big Retail,more cold storages,more of food processors,Vodka brewers and Chips sellers in the State .Because we see this as a problem of distribution -a problem of logistics.
Not as a problem created by a  dangerous reliance on free market forces to guide agricultural production patterns and as a failure of crop intelligence .

To make this more clear it would be interesting to see how the US farmer ,with access to all the Walmarts and all the processors -is "protected" from  the glut.

This is an excerpt from Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma "  which discusses why the American  farmers despiyte earning a pittance keep on growing corn when it costs more and more each year to grow it and to sell it to feed the Corporate demand for Corn.And the grave consequence for the Food and Agriculture System as a whole. 

• "Farmers, believe it or not, actually lose money on every bushel of corn they make.  In order to actually feed their families when the price of corn drops, they have to squeeze out more corn in marginal land using more heavily fossil-fuel laden nitrogen fertilizer to try to make ends meet.  Of course, this further drives corn prices lower, which compels farmers to make even more corn.  This means  $5 billion a year in corn subsidies by the Federal Government to keep the farmers afloat ."

• Naylor's curve : "A farm family needs a certain amount of cash flow every year to support itself, and if the price of corn falls, the only way to stay even is to sell more corn. Naylor says that farmers desperate to boost yield end up degrading their land, plowing and planting marginal land, applying more nitrogen – anything to squeeze a few more bushels from the soil. Yet the more bushels each farmer produces, the lower prices go, giving another turn to the perverse spiral of overproduction. Even so, corn farmers persist in measuring success in bushels per acre, a measurement that improves even as they go broke."

• So the farmer remains trapped in low prices which means more profit for the Big Retail and Agro -Industrial combine. The consumer gets a cornified food chain .And everybody feels happy for the time being that they knew what to do with the glut !

Coming back to Punjab ,what led to a glut of Potatoes?

• An insistence by the Agrobusiness guys to grow Potatoes ! The bigger farmers who choose a cash crop (potato is a cash crop in Punjab with it's swarm of agrobusiness) initially get  handsome returns - leading all the small and marginal farmers to emulate them at the cost of diverse ,multicropping patterns which may not give roof high returns  , but which are by nature a safeguard against price volatility.

The debate in FDI  IS NOT about  rapacious traders ,deprived consumers and poor farmers robbed of  higher Returns.

It is about leaving a lamb of a farm sector which is already vulnerable to losses  due to over-dependence on market economics of industrial agriculture to be played around by a 800-pound gorilla in the retail woods -which is what Walmart -the World's largest Grocery Chain is. The solution does not lie in more of  mono-cultures ,hybrid seeds ,fertilizers and pesticides ; more water guzzling cash crops, more groundwater use and mechanized factory farms causing a near stagnation in the unskilled,semi-skilled,rural employment market . We need Sustainable Agriculture .

The health of the farm sector is vital because we eat what they grow.And the kind of Agriculture we patronize,or the Corporates loved by us do, decides how we eat . The US has made the world Corny -do we want to get Potatoed ?

Leaving rhetoric aside what are the alternatives to deal with the glut ? Devinder Sharma noted Agriculture Policy Analyst  while reiterating that more Markets are not the answer recommends a  crop Intelligence System.His three suggestions are :

• Regional Crop Mapping -to provide information backed guidance on how much a farmer should sow of a particular crop.
• Embracing Multi-cropping and eschewing monocultures.
• Assured Income Package for farmers.

Sustainability with Food Security is the way forward for Punjab Farmer -where Industrial Agriculture is close to the end of its dream run . Would we choose even more input heavy Agriculture leaving lesser incomes for the farmer or would we turn towards a Strategy for healing the ravaged,poisoned ,salinated and water-logged earth ?

Zen Hens !

 

The abysmal quality of Industrial eggs as available in the market led me to experiment with Backyard hen-keeping.Living as I am in a relatively smaller town with a modicum of open space around the house this has been an interesting affair. Of course they do not lay eggs all year round -but they do get relatively prolific in winters. And few as the eggs are , the quality is something worth seeing.The yolks are so tight and muscled - like shiny,bright yellow balls. Not runny . And easily lend themselves to making a perfect sunny side up egg fry ! The yolks are not tiny relative to the white, but rather big - the white part is lesser .No smell .I love holding a warm freshly laid egg in my hand !

But the real fun is that these hens and their Rooster have their creaturely personalities. My bedroom rings with the cock-a-doodle -do at five-thirty am sharp .Which is marginally better than the four am alarm in summer time :) The black and grey hens are fat and very friendly.Rather docile too and get fulsomely pecked by the sharp as nail white one -who is in a brooding mood these days .And haunts the cage- warming her clutch of eggs.

Busy Brooding !

 The black one lays in odd places  and forgets and is more interested in ravaging the garden with its various leafy veggies. They just love the fresh juicy ,chlorophyll laden stuff . Potato leaves ,carrot leaves ,mustard and turnip greens - they do not leave anything .So to protect my veggies I let them in the front yard where they peck the grass and termites(hopefully !) and spread some nitrogen -rich chicken shit .They just LOVE this arrangement.So much so that they have started making angry noises till they are let in the lawn The Rooster with his magnificent  white and black plumage is a rather dumb witted fellow and merely follows the women. The hens *really* Gossip .They go sing-song ,cooing and clicking all the time.Its very soothing actually to have them  flitting around on a Sunday morning, while I pretend to read the newspapers!

The only time Mr Hen wants to assert his authority is when bajra is served.He flaps his wing and quacks to dine first. But the ladies just ignore him :)

I call this silly bunch my Zen Hens ! Their Happiness shows in the eggs they make .Really ! I hope the white one is successful in her endeavour to hatch  and we add some chicks to this merry album !

Random Thoughts on Getting some Exercise .

 
Lack of Movement makes me Stodgy and Dull in mind and spirit. This winter I have been falling off the wagon a bit more than usual and I ain't loving it. Mornings are not the same without exercise. As Ghalib said :

"तुम न आए तो क्या सहर न हुई
हाँ मगर चैन से बसर  न हुई ..."

 "It wasn't as if  there was no morning (in your absence). But truly there was nothing soothing  (चैन )"

On to some random thoughts on this whole business OF GETTING IT IN  .

1. It is not about doing Yoga or running or lifting weights.And about arguing pros and cons of each- all hunched over the keyboard :))  All those are secondary quibbles. First off : Get Thee Thine Movement Quota In. Everyday or as frequently as possible . Then we can decide what is better.
2. The Problem of our Desk Bound, Automobile powered Existence is that we must plan very intelligently to find time and space for *any*  Movement .We have effectively locked out natural, informal Movement out of our daily lives.
3. We have also locked out natural , real foods out of our lives  : by the preponderance of  cheap,nutrient free , attractive non-foods all over the place.
4. Convenience is the "shakuni mama"  which smilingly and lovingly takes us down the road to disease and immobility. It is important to embrace a little inconvenience *now* to save our chair-loving holy asses in the not so far dotage.
5. It is good to be moving - your body will tell you that - unless you have allowed it to forget that through prolonged disuse.Once you both (your body and you)  can Enjoy Movement ; get into exploring forms of moving.Strong Muscles will let you move longer,harder ,better ,faster .Common sense - still not so common for most .So get some muscle work dialled in. And discover some lovely surprises.
6. It is more important to take care of proper nutrition if you want to be healthy or if you want to lose weight / fat or simply want to perform better . Exercise is like the engine's  performance -it happens only after proper fuelling :))
7. Then again , I find that when I do not Exercise ,I forget my food rules too ! Everything : sleep,eating well,remembering to take my fish oil , maintaining good posture -goes downhill .Lack of Exercise then, is like a circuit breaker that breaks the chain of eating well ,rest and rejuvenation !!
8. There are no linear progressions in life or exercise.Not exercising for a few days makes me pudgy and podgy but exercising for a few days does not make me a female Ninja  :)) Can never figure *WHY*.
9. Do I contradict myself ? Very well so I do .But do as I say -not as I do :) 
10. Don't think : Just Move  : a good old trick that always works !

Walmart and Saving the Indian Farmer Fairytale.

 

The lovers of Free Market and Walmart say that bringing in Walmart and letting it build economies of scale by edging out domestic ,rapacious middlemen and using cold chain infrastructure of its own to transfer vegetables from distant farms to stores in say New Delhi will be the ultimate win-win situation for the farmer as well as the consumer.I have a few questions on this sunny scenario.Which are related to , in some roundabout way to the satisfaction that I get from buying fresh local produce from the weekly kisan mandi or the joy I get from cutting a bunch of paalak from my backyard . 

• First off is the fate of the farmer .The farmer in this Walmart Model is a direct supplier of a commodity.Today Walmart will pay a higher price for his tomatoes or cucumbers as the idea is to remove the existing buyers out of the picture.They have big pockets they can afford to out -buy them.But how long will this Honeymoon last ? As corn growers in US and banana sellers in Nicaragua have found once the cartel is dominated by the Retail Giant,the standards of produce quality are raised and prices are lowered.By then the farmer has got so used to the input heavy,Walmart style of Contract Farming that he is locked in that cycle and there are no other buyers in town. The loss of soil fertility and resultant crop failure would only lead Walmart to greener pastures but would ruin the farmer . Case in point the suicide epidemic among BT cotton farmers of Vidarbha - presided over by Monsanto.True there is a lot to do to save the Indian Farmer . But making Walmart the King of the Agricultural Cartel and fondly hoping that they will hold hands and wipe tears is highly foolish .As International Experience with Walmart amply bears out. If you can not reform the existing middleman system ,bring a bigger Middleman with deeper pockets !!! What kind of Policy is that ?

• Second is the bullshit on Infrastructure .Cold chains need Power.Processing food needs ditto.Which is a scarce commodity in rural India.So to make this functional Walmart will definitely obtain cheap Power concessions from Governments. Which would mean a worse off situation for the hapless citizen. So remember when you say Power To Free Market : it may literally mean that !! 

• Third any scheme that moves towards displacing a decentralized ,low cost ,multi-layered retail system of mandis,bazzars,haats ,street vendors,door to door carters by a Real Estate heavy ,Resources and power Intensive system of Superstores is illogical and foolish for a third world country with Unemployed millions.I don't know about you but I already have had enough of Malls -which apart from cornering up prime Real Estate , are samely boring in every city.  You want even more of that ?  Really ?? Try organizing a Farmer's market and feel the difference.

• Fourth, in this whole super-efficient and attractive sounding Walmart sponsored Farm to Fork scheme ,we as Consumers lose out a lot in terms of Food Quality.Even now at Superstores ,one  may get California Strawberries and Fuji Apples but to get bursting with freshness ,seasonal produce you need to grow your own garden or seek out a farm near you. The mandi may be having pesticide ridden produce too ,but at present there still remain in countryside ,pockets of agriculture that are free from the taint .Post Walmartisation - and the resulting mad scramble for cheapest food -the task will become impossible.We are a primarily Vegetarian country .Our cuisines require a lot of fresh produce.If you as Consumer make a choice to eat produce grown on depleted soils in monocultures on factory farms , ferried over great distances ,processed in various ways ,you get some convenience ,yes ,the retailer gets a lot of profit,yes ; but what do you lose on taste, Nutrition and Health ?? 

Profits and convenience are not and should not be the sole arbiters of what we grow, how we grow it .In the long run it is bad for the farmer ,for the soil and for the eater as well .