How to make your health & fitness goals for 2020 more meaningful, achievable and sustainable

It’s that time of the year again when people start thinking about the new year and what they hope to accomplish. Fitness and health goals are always a top favourite for most on the personal front.

Whether it’s losing weight or cutting back on that sweet tooth you been calling an “occasional indulgence”- we’ve all been there at some point.

January flies by for most as the adrenaline of achieving the new goal and the excitement of the swanky new gym membership or the latest Fitbit you purchased holds promise of that elusive dream body you’ve been thinking about for a while now.

However as February and March roll by the Fitbit remains for many a bitter reminder of the steps you haven’t taken, the sleep you haven’t had and the calories you haven’t burned and then of course “life” takes over and fitness and health take a backseat.

Why this scenario plays out so often and regularly is something I’ve given some thought to and wanted to share with you.

I’ve taken examples of two possible goals better health (long term) and within that Weight loss (a more short-term goal) and. Please remember these are just two among many different goals that you could set.

Setting Meaningful goals
Better overall health instead of “weight loss” alone
Weight loss alone may be a very transient goal, it’s important to look beyond it. Don’t get me wrong- weight loss as a goal perfectly fine provided it is building up to something bigger.
What happens when you lose that weight? Do you still have the motivation to continue with the clean eating and exercise knowing that you are at your goal weight? Many people get complacent at this stage and end up putting back all the weight they lost and more.
Better overall health is something you can work towards your entire life it is a goal that will keep evolving as you age and go through different life phases. It could be trying reign in health markers like cholesterol, or blood sugar or reversing PCOD.
A healthy person is likely to be in their healthy weight range in any case.
Even if weight loss one of your health goals instead of saying “I want to lose weight” why not be more specific and decide what your goal weight is. So, if you are currently 75Kgs and would like to be 65Kgs your goal could be to lose 10Kgs of weight in the next 12 months. Not only is this measurable but you have something specific to work towards.

Set goals that are meaningful and measurable rather than vague and superficial!

Setting goals that are Achievable
Better overall health in the long run instead of fad diets and shortcuts to lose weight quickly.
Making some small doable lifestyle or nutrition changes and adding a new habit every month or two will slowly build up to a healthier lifestyle over time. You could start with something as small as drinking two extra glasses of water every day. You could try finish your dinner by 7pm, or you could aim for 6-7 hours of sleep at least 5 days a week.
Quantifying your weight goal is a great start, however you want to be sure that it is an achievable target. Trying to lose 10 Kgs in a year can easily be broken down to a 1kg a month factoring in various barriers like festivals, social occasions that are unavoidable etc. but trying to lose 10 Kgs in 2 months may be too aggressive for you (and unhealthy). Your fitness goal is not meant to stress you out. Setting unachievable targets and beating yourself up for not reaching them year end is a completely avoidable and unnecessary.

Set goals that you can achieve with a some effort rather than impossible goals that you cannot fulfill and beat yourself up over.

Setting goals that are Sustainable
Better health for the rest of your life instead of losing weight for one year and putting it back on after another year.
If you can set a goal that is meaningful and achievable you have half the battle won and are almost certainly going to be able to sustain it.
If you’re aiming to lose a certain quantity of weight you can steadily lose 1Kg a month you are unlikely to feel deprived, burned out or fatigued. This makes it easier to sustain the positives changes you have made to achieve the weight loss and maintain it.
On the other hand, if you crash diet and go crazy with 2 hour workouts 6 days a week you’re likely to either injure yourself or get burned out with the effort it takes to follow this aggressive lifestyle change. Many just give up and go back to their old habits with a vengeance.
With ‘better health’ the goal may keep changing or evolving over the years and goes beyond physical health. What I’ve seen that really makes it sustainable is when people eventually start taking responsibility for their lifestyle choices. If you are going to depend on a nutritionist to keep telling you what to eat you will fail the moment you stop going to the nutritionist, however if you use the nutritionist expert advice as a starting point and eventually educate yourself about food choices, quantities etc you can use the initial guidance as a jump-start to continue on your healthy journey. Once you understand proper form and technique from a trainer you can plan your own exercise schedule. Combine multiple exercise forms that complement each other.
In my experience the people who tend to sustain are the ones who eventually take an active interest in their health and fitness rather than those who expect the trainer or nutritionist to do the thinking every time.

Think long term set goals you can sustain for life.

Basically Meaningful, Achievable and Sustainable!
Questions? DM me on Instagram @transformpilatesstudio

Can’t lose the mummy tummy? You could have a diastasis recti.

In my last post I wrote about easing back into a realistic doable fitness routine post pregnancy. One of the things that I had mentioned was that it is important to exercise safely. Pregnancy is a time of many physical changes, while it is important to remain physically active during and after pregnancy it is also important to understand these changes and modify or alter your fitness routine accordingly.

During pregnancy your posture tends to change. The increasing weight around your mid-section tends to pull your lower back into a hyper extension that can cause lower back pain both during and after pregnancy. This pain can get worse post pregnancy when your hormones are still in flux and ligaments are still in a relaxed state and now you have the additional task of caring for your baby. Constant bending, lifting during bath times, diaper changes carrying the baby on your hips all contribute to the stress on your lower back.

Pilates helps by strengthening muscles that support not just your back but also your pelvis restoring a more neutral alignment of the spine and thereby alleviating back pain.

One of the most common mistakes new mothers make in a bid to lose the “mummy tummy” is to do endless crunches or sit ups.  Not only can traditional sit ups hurt your already weak lower back but it can actually make your tummy pooch out even further.

This is due to a condition called diastasis recti.

Your abdominal muscles are layered with the transversus abdominis being the deepest or inner most followed by the external and internal oblique muscles and the rectus abdominis or the 6 pack forming the outermost layer.

During pregnancy the increasing load around your tummy puts pressure on your abdominal muscles from the inside (intra-abdominal pressure) and this causes the thin connective tissue running vertically down the center of your torso from the sternum to your pubic bone to stretch out and the rectus abdominis muscles to separate this leaves the contents of the abdomen unsupported with very little to hold them in. This is what causes the permanently 5 months pregnant pooch that some women face many months and years after the baby.

(It is important to note here that a diastasis is possible even among men and infants. For men the reason is typically very weak core muscles made worse by heavy lifting and doing traditional sit ups or after surgery.)

The diastasis post pregnancy normally tends to shrink on its own but doesn’t in many cases.

In the next post I will be talking about how you diagnose if you have this condition and what you can do to heal it.

Wisdom, Teeth (A Guide To Dental Health)

The depressed toothbrush

Disclaimer: The following information is based on real experiences and may or may not apply to you. While its always better to seek the opinion of your dentist, its even more important to do your own research regarding your dental health.

As an important orifice for nutrient ingestion.. (sorry too prosaic, I mean, wordy..)

REBOOTING…

MOSS IN MY MOUTH

We consume food through the mouth but spend very little thought on what goes inside – I am not saying you have to be a culinary saint but a little balance will go a long way in ensuring good health. The phrase “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” implies the health of the horse can be estimated by looking into its mouth – same goes for us homo sapiens also.

It was maybe 6 years ago that I was eating chana (salted Bengal grams) and quickly the inside of my cheeks became inflamed and soon spread to my gums. For a next few weeks found it very difficult to eat anything spicy. Initially I thought it was a allergic reaction to the something in the packaged chana but it just didn’t go away – so the chana was possibly when my immune system put its hands up..

Cut to the dentist’s chair. I hate doctors spouting morality.

The guy didn’t have a clue about the condition – by this time it was extremely painful to the touch too.

“Do you smoke ?” No.

“Do you drink ?” Sometimes.

He gave me a look as if he didn’t believe my first answer and sort of implied I am person with loose morals hence I have been punished. He sent me off with some dental cream which unsurprisingly did absolutely nothing to help and I suffered on.

So next stop, Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road.

( I was hesitant to come here because of my previous experience some years before this inflammation.

That time, my teeth had become very sensitive after having too many raw mangoes and the eccentric head of the department took one look and said I have to go for root canal treatment.

To add insult to sensitivity he used some sort of electric prod which sends a small current to check tooth sensitivity.

He calls one trainee dentist No. 1.

“This is what sensitive teeth looks like..” and prods my teeth. “OOOWWWWW”

He call another (good looking) trainee dentist No. 2.

“This is what sensitive teeth looks like..” and prods my teeth. “OOOWWWWW”

Repeat treatment one by one for trainees 3 and 4. ” More O’s and W’s.

Why couldn’t he call all of them at once ??

It would have been extremely funny if I was watching this on a sitcom, maybe Scrubbs.

(I joke not, this is what happened)

Finally the pain loving sadistic idiot tells me we can start root canal treatment right away. I demur, saying I will come back the next day, even take a appointment for the next day to escape from Hotel California. Did some Googling, bought one of those toothpastes which fix tooth sensitivity – Sensodyne , in one week I was munching away like a cow. )

So you can imagine my trepidation this time.

This time he takes one look and says – Ha! Lichen Planus. Lichen!?? What is this.. some Amazon rain forest ? What kind of eccentricity is it this time around ?

But turns out the guy was spot on this time. He explained its a auto immune disorder which I could believe since I am sort of a walking, talking auto immune disorder disaster area.

The diagnosis was correct (biopsy confirmed it) but the treatment was topical steroids which will only remove the symptoms which may recur any time. And thats the only line of treatment with allopathy.. and I don’t care for steroids with a healthy disrespect for allopathic medication as a first line of treatment because of its side effects.

So next stop, a homoeopathy doctor with expertise in auto immune issues. He understood my life history including a detailed understanding of the body parts where I sweat the most.  Gave me some of those white pills and sent me off saying *don’t* brush the gums. Initially I felt that there was some improvement but possibly it was a placebo effect – there was no real improvement.

I suffered along for many months this way. Google told me Aloe Vera gel may help. Couldn’t get oral gel but tried aloe vera juice. No effect.

Some months later I noticed my ears were fully waxed up. Ignored it until it became irritating.

(Ears?? You ask. Wait, I say. Everything’s connected.)

So I go to a ear doctor, possibly the first time in my life. Initially she gives me a liquid to put in my ears every night to loosen it up. When I go back after a week, its so impacted because of those silly ear buds she is unable to yank it out. Well then, she puts H2O2 in each ear one by one which bubbled away like a hot spring brook after which the wax comes out like ear plugs.

Immediately after removing the wax everything became unnaturally loud – probably my brain had yanked up the master volume and it took a few months to adjust. You will not believe – the door bell and the main door latch were most irritatingly loud.

A few days later I went swimming. Water gushed in into ear canals which had been drier than the Atacama desert earlier. Which meant exactly 6 hours later I got my first ear infection ever.

So I visited this old fashioned doctor who confirmed the ear infection but the diagnosis was too quick for him and left him unsatisfied. “Let me take a look at your mouth”, he said. “Lichen Planus”, I said, and so did my screams when he was poking around my gums.  “Hmmmpff”, he said. “All these new fangled names . People don’t massage their gums causing these issues. Just use your finger to brush your gums. It will hurt, it will bleed but it will harden your gums. Now get lost”, he said, now satisfied that he had earned his keep.

I liked the idea. Simple and painful and no steroids. So for the next one week I brushed my gums morning and night. I bled. It hurt like hell. It really helped – The lichens retreated under my stern fingering. Gums felt better in months. Atleast 50% improvement.

Then I came across this simple, great concept called oil pulling. Less complicated than it sounds – its a very old Ayurvedic practice which involves using a vegetable oil such as coconut, sesame (til) or even olive oil and swishing it like mouthwash for atleast 15 minutes without swallowing it.

People claim it’s the panacea for many ills including skin glow, but all this in my opinion is fantasy. It helped me in these ways –

• Lichen Planus 99% gone after oil pulling for a month. I will not claim a cure, but this habit keeps LP completely away.
• Removes a lot of phlegm from my airways.
• A lot of people drink water or tea first thing in the morning – I believe that means you will ingest all the bad breath and bacteria- sounds logical that first thing should be to remove these out first – oil pulling reduces plaque and is supposed to round up all the bacteria
• Good excuse for not being able to talk to my wife in the morning 🙂

I started flossing regularly too – started with every night and then reduced to once a week.

So to consolidate:

• Oil pulling in the morning for 15 min with sesame (til) oil
• Brush teeth
• Brush gums with fore finger
• Floss once a week

In a month or so Lichen Planus was under control and ever since.

(Aside: once I took some NSAID drugs for an injury the LP flared up real bad – avoid NSAIDs like the plague if you have oral LP, atleast make sure you let the doctor know you have LP)

Which leads us to….

WHAT’S IN YOUR TOOTHPASTE??

Let’s start off with some self evident truths:

First off, based on what I know (happy to be corrected if wrong) there are exactly THREE inorganic food substances that we have consumed on a everyday basis for thousands of years..

• Water
• Salt
• Baking powder / baking soda, maybe?

meaning rest of all food we consume comes from (organic) other life forms – from grains to vegetables and fruits, spices to meat. Think – only water and salt are not from life forms, rest everything is.

Second – what the only TWO substances that we are told to put into our mouth, but not swallow ?

• Bubble gum / chewing gum
• Toothpaste

As far as gum is concerned – I have often swallowed it without any ill effects. And the wrapper does not say do not swallow.

Which leaves toothpaste as the only substance that we are supposed to put in our mouths but not swallow.

Why does toothpaste packaging say:

• Not for children less than 6 years old ?
• Use only pea sized amount
• Poison control warnings in countries such as USA ?

How is toothpaste ok for adults but not for small children ? Why only pea sized amount ? What will happen if I have maybe three pea sized portions ?

For this, let me relate the experience of a friend, lets call him VB. An extreme and rare situation, but important to understand.

VB bought and started using Colgate Total toothpaste which caused such a severe allergic reaction with rashes on his neck, face and body that he landed up in hospital in a pretty serious condition and doctors pumped him with steroids. An engineer and a logical thinker, he was able to eliminate alternatives and prove conclusively that it was the toothpaste that caused the allergic reaction to the incredulous and unbelieving doctors.

The lessons we can learn from VB’s experience are:

• Doctors don’t know everything
• Hell, if they know what they are supposed to know, that would be a good start
• Ultimately, you are responsible for your health
  • Do you own research and develop your own diagnostic skills
  • Don’t self medicate – use the doctor for that
  • Avoid unnecessary medication especially pain killers
  • Ask the doctor about the effect of the medication

Further down this article I have listed out the toothpaste brands and their ingredients as details, but let’s look at what I have discovered:

Analysis

• All “Herbal” toothpastes have a large non-herbal component. Should they be even called herbal?

• Vicco toothpastes may appear to be very “herbal” but out of 100g of toothpaste, exactly 20g only constitutes herbal extracts – so the rest of 80g is “excipients p.s.” which is the scientific term for – “this is herbal so I don’t care to inform you about the rest”. I was pretty surprised on getting a round 20g number for 18 herbal extracts !
• The most popular chemicals are for both herbal and non-herbal toothpastes are:
  1. Sorbitol – bad
  2. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)  – very bad
  3. Silica – somewhat bad
  4. Sodium Saccharin – bad

• Avoid Dabur Herbal toothpaste. It has Formaldehyde, which is poison even to breathe and they are putting this in toothpaste!

• People with asthma have to take more care in toothpaste choice, preferably go fully natural as described later.

Behind the scenes

 If you think what-you-see-is-what-you-get applies to toothpastes, you can think again..

Unfortunately, it’s not necessary that the manufacturer has stated all the ingredients of the toothpaste on the tube, more so with so called “herbal” toothpastes.

A specific case in point:

Himalaya Dental Cream mentions these as the ingredients, other than herbal:

• Sodium Benzoate IP
• Bronopol IP
• Saccharin Sodium IP 0.5%

None of these are “foaming” agents.. so how can this toothpaste foam at all ?

So I sent them an email:

—–Original Message—–
From: Jaimini Ram [jaiminixxxx@xxx.com]
Sent: Wednesday, Aug 29 2012 1:01AM
To: customer.service@himalayahealthcare.com [customer.service@himalayahealthcare.com]
Subject: ingredients in dental cream
Hi

I would like to know:

1. what is the foaming agent used in Himalaya dental cream.
2. Does it have Sodium Lauryl Sulphate or Sodium Laureth Sulphate.

regards,

Jaimini.

To which they replied as:

Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:43:50 +0530
From: customer.service@himalayahealthcare.com
Subject: RE:’HDC=826-876′ ingredients in dental cream
To: jaiminixx@xxx.com
Dear Jaimini

Thank you for your email.

We wish to clarify that Himalaya Dental Cream uses Sodium lauryl sulphate as a foaming agent.

Regards

Ms. Tara xxx xxxx

Manager – Customer Service
The Himalaya Drug Company
Makali, Bangalore 562 123, India
T +91 80 2371 4444 · F +91 80 2371 4474

Toll Free No: 1800-425-1930 (9.00 am – 5.00 pm Monday – Friday)

Atleast Himalaya is responsive – but there is a big gap in what is mentioned on the toothpaste versus reality – anyone who is sensitive to SLS or SLES is in big trouble if they believe what is printed on the tube.

I also sent an email to Patanjali regarding their Dant Kanti but I never received a response:

Hi
Wanted to know some details about Dant kanti toothpaste – does it contain SLS or SLES ?

Only sodium benzoate and calcium carbonate is mentioned.

I am asking since I am allergic to SLS and SLES. If you are not using this what substance are you using as your foaming agent ?

Regards,
JaimIni

which finally brings us to the climax..

SO WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE TO TOOTHPASTE ?

Firstly, not everyone is allergic or sensitive to these chemical found in toothpastes.

If you have a toothpaste that works for you, that’s great.

When your dentist is all smiles when they see you every month, that’s when you should start investigating what is happening and what you can do to improve the situation.

I found some good resources on the net for an alternative to toothpaste:

• http://familysponge.com/health/coconut-oil/homemade-toothpaste-coconut-oil/
• http://wellnessmama.com/8780/squeezable-homemade-toothpaste/
• http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-toothpaste/
• http://wellnessmama.com/2500/remineralizing-toothpaste/

The main ingredients being: coconut oil, baking soda and rock salt

What I have personally tried and found excellent is:

• mix these and add as required until you get a good semi solid consistency
  • (virgin) coconut oil
  • baking soda
  • rock/sea salt – grind it in a mortar
  • add peppermint oil for fresh breath
• add these as available:
  • turmeric
  • powdered clove
  • nutmeg seed– you can scrape it or powdered mace
  • cardamom, ground
  • star anise
  • powdered tulsi
  • powdered cinnamon
  • neem powder

  Keep in a glass jar at your sink, pour out a little on the toothbrush or into your mouth. In addition to the brush use your finger to brush your gums.

  Floss at least once a week.

  I found that plaque reduced dramatically than any standard toothpaste could have.

  But

  • It will make your sink dirty and messy which you will need to clean each time
  • It’s a real pain to make this each time unless someone can do it for you

  I have come to the conclusion that for toothpaste manufacturers “cleaning teeth” is just one of the requirements – not messing up the sink too much as well as thickness so that it can come out of the tube evenly is a much bigger requirement

  I am lazy in preparing this concoction each time.. so instead I keep a mix of baking soda and common salt in a glass jar and sprinkle it on the toothbrush along with the toothpaste.

  Toothpastes and ingredients

Now lets look at the (artificial) substances that are present in popular brands of toothpaste – both herbal and non-herbal, to delve a bit deeper

In the list below, Dabur Herbal, Dabur Meswak and Himalaya Active are branded as “Herbal” toothpastes.

• Bye, Bye

  Hopefully this was a comprehensive and an objective overview of toothpastes so that it helps others out there!

  I researched on the toothpaste ingredients by taking a photo of the toothpastes, reproduced below: