You need to get in shape, right? So here I am today, sharing my secret of how I got in shape and reduced my thyroid dosage in a small time span of 3 months and my journey is still in progress. With all due respect, the credit goes to Rujuta Diwekar and her team (Chhavi, this one is for you).
Disclaimer: I am no dietitian and I am just sharing my experience and things I do in my routine to keep myself fit. There is no general rule and each person has their own schedule, activities, likes and dislikes to follow and nurture.
Rujuta wrote a book “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight” back in 2009 and since then, it has been miraculously changing the lives of people following it. I am one of them. I got to know about Rujuta from one of my very dear sisters-in-law and at that time I was in middle of nowhere. My wedding was around the corner and I felt bloated, tired and heavy all the time. As a light at the end of the tunnel, Rujuta’s “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight” came into the picture. I read and followed it religiously and in less than 4 months I had an hourglass shape like never before.
But after marriage, my life changed 360 degrees and even after trying hard I couldn’t keep up with the basics I learned and I lost it again. Happily this year, I mustered my strength and got in touch with Rujuta’s team using unique 2 months program and re-read the book to strengthen my basics. Today I am going to share my learnings and experience with you.
There are basically 4 areas to improve to lead a healthy holistic life
- Nutrition: Our body is what we eat. So if we eat Junk, we will look like Junk, and if we eat healthy home cooked food, we will look blossoming like a fresh flower.
- Exercise: Use it or loose it. If we do not use our muscles that are meant to bend, to pull, to push, to lift, then we will loose them. No muscles mean faster ageing and much more.
- Sleep: Super essential for restoring body from day to day wear and tear. Regulated sleep time leads to hormonal balance, long healthy hair and lustrous skin.
- Relationships: Don’t try to be an “ideal women”-there is no such thing and it’s okay to want more out of your life and yourself. Express yourself freely and fearlessly.
I follow following fundamentals to lead a holistic healthy life and I believe fixing lifestyle is the only cure for all the in-trend diseases like obesity, thyroid, PCOD, PCOS and so on…
Nutrition
- Eat the meal within 3 hours of cooking it.
- Cook for smaller number of people to ensure better nutrients
- Eat vegetables and fruits as a whole. Peeling and cutting them increases their surface areas, thus increasing exposure to air, oxidising all the nutrients.
- Eat what you have been eating since childhood – idli, upma, paratha, pooha, chapati. Connect to your roots again.
- Eat local and seasonal produce. So mangoes in winter are not fun and banana is more fun than imported kiwi.
- Before Eating
- Switch off all your devices or simply disconnect yourself from them.
- Wash your hands.
- Serve half of what you usually eat on a clean plate.
- Add a spoon of ghee to your meal.
- Sit in a cross-legged posture or on a fixed seat of your dining table. Preferably cross-legged posture.
- While Eating
- Drink a glass of lukewarm water.
- Offer your prayers to the Almighty for providing you such a nutritious food.
- Chew your food using entire mouth and eat slowly.
- Involve all your five senses, see the colour of your meal with your eyes, feel the texture with your touch, hear the chewing sound in your mouth, smell the fragrance with your nose and let your taste buds enjoy the sweetness of your meal.
- While you have food in your mouth, do not pick up the next bite.
- If you want more, serve yourself a second helping. Your body will let you know when you are full if you concentrate on food and chew it properly.
- After Eating
- Stay there for few minutes and feel how each bite provided nutrition to each of your cells.
- Clean your plate before dropping it in the sink.
- If there are any supplements that you are taking after the meal, this is the right time.
Following above principles of eating habits, you will establish a connection with your stomach. This will help you know when to stop eating and prevent you from overeating.
Overeating is one of the major reasons of obesity as each undigested bite contributes to extra fat storage as well as brings all the problems related to indigestion like acidity, bloating and so on.
- Eat a fruit within 10 minutes of waking up
Yes, you read that right. You need to give up your bedtime tea and coffee. But don’t be sad. You can still have it, after having your fruit. But the first thing is fruit, any seasonal fruit you like – locally available. If you have the thyroid problem and you take your medicine as first thing in the morning, then keep a gap of 20 minutes between your thyroid pill and fruit.
- Eat every 2 hours
- Meal 2 – Within an hour of morning fruit, have a nice home cooked breakfast which could be anything you have been eating since childhood like poha, idli, upma, paratha, anything that connects you to your roots and makes you feel fulfilled.
- Meal 3 – Lunch. It’s best to have lunch by 11:00 am. Dal + rice / sabji + roti + curd / pulav + curd.
- Meal 4 Options – Nariyal pani / lassi / curd / green tea / buttermilk / any fruit / anything from Meal 5 Options.
- Meal 5 Options – Peanuts / nuts / cheese slice / anything from Meal 4 Options.
- Meal 6 (Evening Snack) – Milk / soymilk / poha / upma / ildis / paratha / sprouts / wholewheat toast with cheese spread.
- Eat more when you are more active and vice verse
So after exercise, driving, stressful presentation, household cleanings, rigorous cooking, your body needs good fuel and your duty is to provide it. Whereas lying down, reading a book, chatting, watching a movie where you are physically and mentally not so active, your body doesn’t need much fuel and you are not required to eat much.
- Eat dinner within 2 hrs of sunset
- I prefer having a rice-based dinner like pulav + curd / khichdi with lots of veggies + curd / dal + rice.
- If it’s not possible to have dinner maximum by 8:30 pm, then take a healthy meal by 7:00 PM like roti roll / whole-wheat toast with cheese spread / protein shake / sprout + curd / bowl of dal / khichdi + veggies + paneer and take a token dinner later on but maximum by 9:30 PM.
- Options for token dinner are dal with sabzi / soups / grilled veggies / milk.
Exercise
- All you need is 150 minutes a week
- It could be anything cardio, weight training, yoga or a combination of any two or three
- If you are suffering from thyroid, weight training twice a week is a must.
- I am taking help from bodybuilding.com to learn the form of different exercises.
- This website can provide you programs based on your age, gender, goals, time you can put in, the number of days you want to do. It’s a great resource and I am really thankful to bodybuilding.com team for such a great website.
- You need to keep increasing the pressure to make it fun – increase weights/increase sets/increase repetitions/reduce gap times.
- I also practice yoga – Iyengar Yoga. All inversions like – Sirsasana, Halasana, Sarvangasana are all great for thyroid people. Very effective!!
- The post-exercise meal is a must and if you can not arrange it better not exercise. This meal includes protein shake and a fruit.
- Protein shake – 30 gms scoop having 24 gms of protein.
- I use optimum nutrition gold standard 100% whey, but there are other great options as well like muscleblaze whey protein, Isopure whey isolate protein.
Sleep
- Wake up closer to sunrise. Start with at least an hour before you used to wake up.
- Sleep at a fixed time. Start with at least an hour before you used to. Switching off all your devices an hour before your sleep time would help you sleep on time and have reviving sleep. Use some fragrances in the room or some soothing music.
- Take a 30 minute afternoon nap.
- Have a glass of milk (without flavors full of preservatives) before sleeping as it will help induce good sleep.
- Work towards waking up without an alarm.
Conclusion
- Cook something for yourself.
- Maintain silence as a practice for few minutes a day.
- Go without salt once a month.
- Cross-legged posture while eating or sitting.
- Squatting for shitting.
- Keep your favorite hobby.
- Take a Himalayan holiday.
- Learn something new every year.
- Are you feeling light post meals?
- Is your sleep quality good?
- Are you waking up fresh?
- are you feeling energetic through the day?
If the answers to all of the above are yes, then know that you are on the right track.