Mission 2023 – Health Resolution, Health Revolution

That steep incline

That curved path

The next step is a mystery

That half seen bridge

That vanishing river

The way ahead is a half written story

That’s when we must remember

It’s never the end

It’s just a bend

A chance to turn

To dreams, to life, to health.

Does time change from one moment to another? Who decides the ending of the year and the beginning of another?

You do!

Just as you can decide the turn of every event of your life

Decisions

Plans

Work

Very importantly

Health

Nutrition and Lifestyle

We at Nutritionwithvibha love year endings because they signify beginnings too. What a beautiful time!

As if ..as if …the door to a new future is being opened. A curtain raised to a new chapter, a possibility of a new birth – of a new us

The chance to renew our most important relationship – that with ourselves. An opportunity to collect ourselves, to gather our core, to heal.

A sliver of space where we can decide to evolve and the tide of the calendar changing its sheet will carry you on to the shore of a positive outcome.

The year-end is beautiful.

The New year is even more so…let’s make it count to our positive sustainable health. Let’s promise ourselves better health in 2023.

Nutritionwithvibha calls to each one of you to step up and step into being Ambassadors of Healthy Living.

Let’s choose right for our bodies, let’s do right by our bodies

Let’s gift ourselves nourishment and a good lifestyle and health.

If your spine straightens on reading this if you are gearing to go ahead into your health journey if you feel you should have started your Nourishment program already…

We have a plan for you – Simple, sustainable four sure-shot things you can start with to renew your health commitment. Are you ready to read, imbibe and start?

If so, here goes…

1. Mindset matters

What runs in your veins

Is it blood?

No, I think it is steel

with some gold

That is why you stand so strong

What makes up your mind

Is it flesh, is it soft

No. I think it’s a mutating river

Iron and sponge

Stars and depths

Evolution is where you belong

Everything begins in the mind…from possibilities to plans to process to practice. So, if we are looking into a sustainable behavior change that leads to health …then the mind and our thinking are the places to start.

Let’s look at three changed ways of thinking that will lead to health behaviors.

The mindset of the Body being our partner in this life.

A partner that we need to honor, cherish and revere.

A partner we need to nourish.

Let us think of being respectful, kind, and loving toward our bodies.

Let us only look at surrounding it with the good and the right quality

The mindset of being Mindful

Mindfulness is equal to responding and not reacting. Responding indicates acting with responsibility and letting prudent thoughts direct your action. This can be adapted to Health behaviors too.

The questions before we eat or before we choose foods or before we choose a habit can be:

Is this good for my body?

Is this good for my body in the long run?

Is this health-preserving?

Is this decision kind to my body?

Does choosing this put me on the path of Nourishment?

Does choosing this keep me on the path of wellness?

Does this choice further me on my path of fitness?

If the answer is yes…then we respond

Let not our health choices be without these questions asked.

Stop. Be Mindful. Respond. Choose

Do this for a few times …soon this will become a habit.

The mindset of becoming a Role Model of health for your family and friends

We learn most when we teach.

Let us take on the mindset that we should share our health journey with those who we care about.

Let us look at – Do and Show and Lead and not Tell and Direct and Ask.

Let us gently help others as we help ourselves.

2. Six hacks to your eating plan with the intention to nourish – to achieve health goals in the New year

A. Include protein in every meal – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks must contain protein. This is great to balance blood sugars and gives a continuous supply of proteins to the body, it additionally contributes to satiety

This means including low-fat dairy – milk, curds, paneer or a good grain and pulse combination – sprout pulao or rajma Paratha or chana chaat with khakhra. It can also be non-veg foods – egg sandwiches, chicken rolls. Nuts are also a good option – ground nut powder or nuts in smoothies

B. Include a minimum of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in the day’s menu.

• Incorporate as many colors as possible in the diet and as much variety. A thumb rule can be – a vegetable in every meal as salads, soups, or curry as well as in snacks
• Fruit in between meals will be the best or as a snack

C. Choose unprocessed and whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts as far as possible.

Ask these questions when you choose/ buy a food

• Has it been altered in such a way that fiber and Micronutrients have been removed from it?

If Yes – then it’s not for us

• Has it been altered to add things that may harm us – preservatives, colors, added sugars and salt, high fructose corn syrup, refined flour? (Check the nutrition label as well as the ingredient list)

If yes…then it’s not for us.

D. Keep Salt and sugar to a minimum.

Preserved foods and processed foods have high salt. We need not know the amounts, our tongues will tell us. These are the things we choose the least, both for ourselves and our families.

Large doses of sugar are the enemy of health. It gives excess calories and numbs the brain into getting addicted to that pleasurable dose of sugar. It causes inflammation and leads to disease conditions.

The limit is to the bare minimum. Let it be included in your list of addictive substances.

E. Use Health Adjuncts for Added Benefits

• Indian cuisine lends itself to so many powerful foods that can have healing properties.
• Use spices well – turmeric coupled with black pepper, and cinnamon in tea and gravies, ginger grated or juices in gravies, and salad dressings are some health-promoting spices.
• Use herbs like Tulsi, mint, lemongrass and curry leaves for anti-inflammatory effects
• Use functional foods like garlic, green tea, methi seeds, and apple cider vinegar for healthful metabolic effects.

F. Grow the correct bacteria in the gut.

Bacteria can become our health collaborators. Current research shows that food bacteria can keep our intestines disease free, better our immune system as well as make chemicals that better metabolic and neurological health.

So remember to include:

• Diverse fruits and vegetables in the diet
• Include millets like jowar, bajra, ragi, rajkira in the diet
• Let every meal be balanced with all food groups.

3. The Lifestyle Turnaround

Health is a composite of diet, lifestyle, and mindset.

Four lifestyle changes that we start immediately this New Year

A. Exercise

Exercise with walking, running, swimming, or dancing for 30 minutes five days a week and 30 mins of gymming, or floor exercises like pushups, planks, squats and other muscle-building exercises thrice a week.

(Muscle building is for both men and women – dear women…we have muscles too!)

B. Limit sitting or give an activity break every 30 mins

• Toe Wiggles, head rotation, feet flexing, standing on toes, and shoulder and arm rotations can be done every half an hour.
• Sit with muscles engaged and not slouched.
• Keeping the posture engaged will expend calories.

C. Sleep for a minimum of 7 hours.

• Schedule your sleep time as the first on your daily list.
• Wake up to see the sun…let the pineal gland be activated and produce the much-needed melatonin for nighttime
• Get ready by unwinding for sleep in the night. This means journalling, relaxing, dimmed lights, and decreased screen time.

D. Keep substances low.

Less alcohol ( Hey, the high is good but the low is that the liver kills itself by detoxifying the alcohol)

No smoking – Quit Quit Quit

because it harms you and everyone who inhales the smoke. Of course, drastically decrease the not talked about substances that are harmful – sugar and salt.

E. Choose positivity and purpose.

Enter 2023 with positivity – For the Good of all and Harm to None

Enter 2023 with a Health Purpose – a purpose of betterment, evolution, and a step into fitness

4. Tips and tricks to stick to your health goals –

Do the Soldier Routine – Plan, schedule, and act with purposeful discipline

Let your week’s menu be planned

Let each meal be planned

Plan what will be purchased and what will be stocked in the fridge

The game of Yes and No

The yes that was health-harming

Convert it into a No

Yes – I would like that sweet

Yes – a tub of caramel popcorn with a can of fizzy drink, please

Yes – a binge-show watching into the night

The No that was Disease causing

Convert that to a Yes

No – Too busy to exercise

No – I can’t sleep for 7 hours

No – I don’t like vegetables

These are examples. Find your wrong Yeses and the incorrect Nos and interchange them for the coming year.

Take Help.

Sometimes we need handholding and support to achieve our health goals. You can get help through information, counseling, and through empowerment.

We at Nutritionwithvibha.com do all. Reach out to us for all the help you need – for information and personalized nutrition counseling.

A Reminder

Omicron comes to say Hello again…

You know what to do by now…

Here’s a checklist:

• Follow all preventive hygiene and social distancing necessary.
• Boost your immune system
• Eat well
• Stay hydrated
• Take the immune-boosting foods
• Vitamin C and Zinc will help.
• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables (mixed fresh non-sugar added juices are great too!)
• Use the Amla in season
• Eat while grains and nuts and seeds

Let’s make sure that we have a Healthy and positive New Year celebration!

• Less abuse of the body by moderating alcohol
• Being kind to the liver by eating fruits and vegetables
• Decreasing sugar
• Choosing wholesome foods – unprocessed grains and nuts
• Showing your love to the body by eating good foods

Take care of your body and health so that it can take care of you!

For life has a message

It’s always the climb…

It’s always being on the move

It’s always rising and turning over a new leaf

It’s always evolution

Life tells us to change

And change for the better

Let old unhealthy patterns fall away

You have no use for it

For

You have chosen to become a health-evolved person

You have chosen to become an operative of Health Wisdom

You have chosen to become an Ambassador of Healthy Living

Isn’t this the best health message this New Year?

Let’s make 2023 count for your healthy life.

This year YOU TURN to health!

Wishing you a Healthy, Nourishing and abundance-filled year ahead.

Welcome to the Nutritionwithvibha family.

Write in to us with your comments and queries.

We are here to serve health – For Nutrition is the sustainable path to health.