Fitness For You 'N' Me: Reality of the Illusion 9788194714255

Table of contents :
Who is Your Life Partner?
The Illusion
Fitness Needs of a Common Man
IMMUNITY
METABOLISM
Wealth Management vs Health Management
BENEFITS OF EXERCISE & HEALTHY LIVING
Barriers to Exercise
What is wrong with “IT”?
What is Reality?
THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION
FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE
References
About the Author
About the Book

Citation preview

Authored by

Nishant Bhalotia

Disclaimer This book has been published with all reasonable efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, or otherwise circulated without the copyright owner’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any other means without the permission of the copyright owner.

11, Ashoka Road, 2D, Shri Niket Building Kolkata - 700027 Email: [email protected] First Published by WINGS PUBLICATION 2020 Copyright © Nishant Bhalotia 2020 Title: Fitness For You ‘n’ Me Price: INR 699 /$14.99 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-81-947142-5-5 LIMITS OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY The Author of this book is solely responsible and liable for its content including but not limited to the views, representations, descriptions, statements, information, opinions and references. The information presented in this book is solely compiled by the Author from sources believed to be accurate and the Publisher assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. The information is not intended to replace or substitute professional advice. The Content of this book shall not constitute or be construed or deemed to reflect the opinion or expression of the Publisher. Publisher of this book does not endorse or approve any content of this book or guarantee the reliability, accuracy or completeness of the content published herein and do not make any representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose. The Publisher shall not be held liable whatsoever for any errors, omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause or claims for loss or damages of any kind, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising out of use, inability to use, or about the reliability, accuracy or sufficiency of the information contained in this book. All disputes are subject to Indore (M.P.) jurisdiction only.

Author’s Disclaimer • Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. I have tried to recreate events, locales and conversations from my memories of them. In order to maintain their anonymity in some instances I have changed the names of individuals and places, I may have changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties, occupations and places of residence. • All names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. • Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author does not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. • This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his/her health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. • The author makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties. The advice, strategies and activities contained herein may not be suitable for every person and/or every situation. One should start any recommendation made in this book at own risk and only after consultation with a medical practitioner. The author shall not be liable nor shall assume any responsibility for any injury/deterioration in health or damages arising herefrom. • Even the simplest of activities pose some inherent risk. The authors advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. While practicing the skills described in this book, be sure not to take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, and comfort level. • Reference of any website or organisation in this book, as a citation and/or potential source of further information, does not mean that the author endorses the information the website or organisation may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers must be aware that any website listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when

this work was written and when it was read

Dedication

. dedicate this book to my father from whom I learnt the importance of Health and Fitness, to my mother who is in a different dimension today but inculcated in me the importance of pursuing one’s passion, to my fifteen year old son Shourrya and to The Divine!

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Acknowledgement would like to thank all my family members who have supported me in all my endeavours. My father, who has always consented to my demands and life plans. My mother, who always encouraged me to explore the unknown and to search for my calling. My two elder sisters, Nupur and Neeti, who are more like a mother to me, especially since Mumma left us in 2013. My jijaji, Ajay, a mentor for me in many ways, has never said no to me just like my father. My son, who makes me want to be a better person each day and live by example. I would like to thank my ex-wife, Bhavna, who encouraged me to step into my health journey way back in 2008. All my mentors and gurus who helped me in my journey from an unhealthy thirty-two-year-old in 2008 to a fit forty-four-year-old in 2020. A special mention for Radha Gupta is essential who showed me the importance of moving beyond the physical aspect of fitness to that of the mind and soul too. Any acknowledgement would be incomplete without thanking my teachers right from primary school to post-graduation. Each one of them left a piece of their personality in me and I am what I am because of them. The teachers and faculty of Don Bosco Park Circus, St. Xavier’s College Kolkata and XLRI, Jamshedpur - gratitude to each one of them. This book would not be complete without the motivation from Kirti. She gave me the push whenever required and helped me write the articles when I was stuck. A special thanks to Suman Manaksia for enhancing the meaning of each and every word in this book with her proficiency in the English language. She helped me keep the language simple yet effective. Last but definitely not the least to Kailash Sir for being my mentor and making me believe that my content was book-worthy. - In Gratitude, Nishant Bhalotia

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Preface oday, health and fitness are talked about more than ever in the known history of mankind. It was not overhyped when I pursued my health and fitness journey in 2008. However, even back then, the myths and misconceptions were the same as they are today. Even though we are aware from a young age that “Health is Wealth’’, it is just in theory and not in practice. People, whose doctor’s prescription says “start walking” or “improve lifestyle” might differ on this. They realise “Health is Wealth” only when they have already lost a part of it. The rat race, in which we all are thrown even without our consent, does not give us time and opportunity to look back. Everyone around us is running and so are we, most of us unaware of where we are heading. I was no exception to this and after finishing my graduation in 1998, I got busy with setting up my career. Little did I realise that my birthday, 24th July (24/7) would have such a significant meaning in my life. It fully justified my attitude of working 24/7 over the next 10 years. Like what happens to most of us, it took a toll on my health and before I realised I had high (borderline) cholesterol, pain in my joints and was overweight by 20 Kgs. I consider myself lucky to get an alarm at an early age of 32 because the body was comparatively young and responded well to my efforts. When I started my fitness journey, I was no expert and blindly followed what is perceived by all of us to be the truth, which in reality, it is not. After a lot of trial and error, moving through the maze of facts and myths about fitness, I was finally introduced to the reality, which was miles away from the illusion that is created all around us regarding health and fitness. Luckily, after a few setbacks, I could get out of it and here, my pursuit for knowledge worked as a boon. I knew early in my journey that something was wrong with the way we approach our health and fitness. Just that, back then, I was a novice to know what exactly it was. My inquisitiveness kept me looking for answers till I finally got them. Once I was through this maze, I was introduced to the real health benefits and it has made a significant positive impact on the quality of my life, even till today. I consider it unfair not to share this knowledge with others. It took me about 18 to 24 months to reach a stage where I was no more under an illusion. While I helped all those who came up to me for advice, I still wasn’t in a position to guide people in large numbers as I was still building my

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career, though I did learn the art of balancing the two, career and health. There came a time, in 2017 when I was 40+ years and I knew I was ready to take my message to the people as I was well settled in my career and that I should also listen to my calling. I consider myself lucky in both ways - first to get a health scare early in life so I could reverse my ailments naturally and secondly, to be able to pursue my passion at a comparatively young age of 40. Coming to my message for the common man, like you ‘n’ me, our health and fitness requirements are totally different than we think. This is the inspiration behind this book. This book will deal with both - what we think is the reality and what actually is the reality ! The most important point to understand is that the earlier we start our fitness journey, the healthier we shall be and hence, better shall be the quality of our lives. I understand that till the age of thirty, we are busy settling down in life with our family and career although our health should always be our top priority. But as soon as we enter our thirties, my recommendation would be not to waste another day to start our health journey, if not yet started. This I am speaking from my personal experience. This book would be a simple guide for any normal adult between the age of 30 to 55 to start their health and fitness journey. The best part is we don’t really have to do a lot to achieve this goal, and that is what this book talks about, how a common man like you ‘n’ me can easily and effortlessly manage our health and fitness without compromising on preexisting commitments - at work and family. Further, the language used in the book is simple - both in terms of English and the use of technical terms. The concepts are explained in simple English and special focus has been given not to include long and complicated biological terms so that it is easy for the reader to understand the concept. This book is another endeavour towards achieving my vision - to touch one crore lives by 2022.

LET’S CONNECT Do you believe in the saying… “If you want to walk fast, walk alone If you want to walk far, walk together”? If yes, then do join our community where we encourage each other to take up health and fitness as well as pursue it for life. We also address queries related to health and fitness. If “we” replaces “I”, then even “Illness” becomes “Wellness”. Join us using the link : Fb.com/groups/ffynm

Download all the resources that come with this book using the link: www.nishantbhalotia.com/ffynm

You can download: 1. Worksheets for “The Body Clock – Plan of Action” 2. Answers to FitaQuiz 3. A Sample Diet Chart Connect directly with the Author: Email : [email protected] Fb : fb.com/nishant.bhalotia Fb : fb.com/holisticfitnesscoach

Index Author’s Disclaimer Dedication Acknowledgement Preface CHAPTER 1. Who is your Life Partner? CHAPTER 2. The Illusion! CHAPTER 3. Fitness Needs of a “Common Man” CHAPTER 4. Immunity CHAPTER 5. Metabolism CHAPTER 6. Health Management vs Wealth Management CHAPTER 7. Benefits of Exercise CHAPTER 8. Barriers to Exercise CHAPTER 9. What’s wrong with “IT”? CHAPTER 10. What is Reality? CHAPTER 11. The Body Clock - Plan of Action CHAPTER 12. Final Piece of Advice References About the Author About the Book

Chapter 1 WHO IS YOUR LIFE PARTNER?

on’t worry, this book is not about matchmaking, nor is it a compatibility quiz with your spouse. If you ask me… I would say “A good life partner is someone who makes one’s life journey extremely smooth, easy and happy”. Right after our graduation, my friend and I wanted to start an Advertising firm. It was 1998, 24th July and I remember the day like it was yesterday. With butterflies in our stomach and dreams of success in our eyes, we inaugurated our new office and signed the partnership agreement in the presence of and with the blessings of our elders. Just as I signed on the papers, I could hear my mom say, “Now it’s time to look for a life-partner too”. That night I fell asleep with the word “life partner” in my head. I got up with a confusing thought - How can my spouse be my life-partner if I am meeting her when 22 years of my life have already passed? I left for the office, but the thought did not leave me. I had just entered into a business partnership and my friend and I were partners from the very first day of the business. Isn’t that what partnership is all about? I kept going deeper into the thought and wanted to understand it better, so I broke the word Life partner into two words. Life - The period of time from our first breath to our last Partner - Anybody that stays with us from our first breath to our last, and shares similar goals as ours. Then who is our life Partner? Is it our parents? Is it our siblings? Is it our friends? Is it our spouse? By this definition, none from the above list qualify to be a life partner. After a lot of thinking, I came up with a satisfactory answer...any guesses? It’s our BODY which is our real-life partner. It fits the definition perfectly. All others, be it our parents, siblings, friends or spouse, will leave us at some point in time. It is our body that will stay with us right till the end. I have asked this question in all the seminars and workshops that I host and get varied answers. Other than the regular answers like siblings, spouse and friends, many also mention “health”. Body and health are not the same. Health, for reasons avoidable or unavoidable, can leave us and we might be

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dependent on medicines or in extreme cases, even life support. What never leaves is our body. Thought of the day! Now that we have understood it’s our body that stays with us from the first time we cry till we breathe our last, should we not keep our life partner in good shape and health? We all know that a goof life partner can make our life’s journey more meaningful, happy and beautiful. Wise men say the first rule of a good partnership is listening. Listen to your body, act wisely and make it your Biggest Asset!

Chapter 2 THE ILLUSION

my friends and I visited Rishikesh - the Yoga capital of the O nce, world, the home of the ancient Yogis and the Mystics. We had waited for this trip with enthusiasm and eagerness and a lot of planning went into it. This was the time of the International Yoga Festival, an annual event that is held in Rishikesh. It is said that it’s for all those who want to reconnect with themselves, learn yoga from the best teachers in the world. Looking forward to an exciting experience, we landed in the city and checked-in. Once settled, we were directed to the orientation programme. The orientation programme was a checklist of do’s and don’ts for the seven-day yoga festival. Yogis believe nature is beautiful when vast and free - where all beings strive and thrive. So we were advised to be aware of the playful monkeys, which roam free. They give you attention if they see something in your hands that interests them food! We were advised not to put food in transparent plastic packets. We went back to the ashram that we were staying in, looking forward to an exhilarating experience. Initial three days were hectic yet blissful and we were soaking in the knowledge of the mind, body and soul. On the fourth day of the festival, we packed bananas into a packet as fuel for the body for a long day ahead and also put some money in the packet for unknown expenses. Sharing our thoughts, discussing the teachings of the previous day, we kept walking in the lanes of Rishikesh and then reality hit!!!! A monkey jumped on one of my friends and snatched the packet from her hand. Wait! Have I forgotten to tell you the packet was transparent? The monkey tugged on the packet hard and all its contents fell right in front of the harmless being. Without thought and with immense speed, the monkey picked up the bananas and took the loot to its friends, leaving behind the money for us. I recollected Jack ma’s words: “If you put bananas and money in front of monkeys, monkeys will choose bananas as they do not know that money can buy a lot of bananas.” And I started to think, “What if I was in its place? What would I do if I had to make a choice between health and money?” In fact, why only me! What would most of us, in our thirties and forties, choose?

We, humans, are considered rational beings who can differentiate good from the bad. The intellect is an asset only humans have. What then drives us to choose money over health, knowing that health can bring in more money? Let’s try and understand why we humans make irrational decisions at times? Two possible reasons are addiction and illusion. Addiction to substances like alcohol, smoking or other things captivates our intelligence, which does not seem to apply when it comes to choosing between money and health. Then are we choosing money over health because we live in an illusion?

What is an illusion exactly? Once a famous King who loved his daughter wanted to gift her the most beautiful diamond necklace on her birthday. The best of jewellers in the kingdom were assigned to the job and when the diamond necklace was presented to the Princess in front of the whole kingdom, there was not one person in the court who did not wish it was theirs to have. Next day the court was called and the King was angry and upset. He announced, “The necklace has been stolen and a reward of 100 gold coins will be given to anyone who finds it”. With an image of the necklace in his mind, a clerk was walking home as his eyes fell on the river flowing next to him. Shocked, he saw the necklace shimmering in the dirty water. Without a second thought, he put his hand inside the filthy water, but he still couldn’t get the necklace. Soon he jumped into the river head down and followed the shimmer of the necklace. A couple of the passers-by also jumped into the filthy

water, but none could get hold of it. A Mystic was passing by and saw the unbelievable sight and he asked in a low voice, “Why have you all jumped into the dirty water?”. With sad eyes and in dismay, the men replied, “Guruji! Please help us. We can see the necklace, but can’t get hold of it”. The Mystic then said two words pointing at the nearby tree: “Look up !”. The men were shocked to see the necklace hanging from the tree branch. What they had seen in the river was just its shiny reflection. They had all behaved irrationally as they thought it was the real necklace, but it was nothing but an ”illusion”. Adolf Hitler said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. To understand the word “Illusion,” we first need to know the term in its totality. Amongst the most commonly held meanings are “A deceptive appearance or Impression” or a “false idea or belief”. While the initial stages are that of Rejection and Peer Influence, we reach the final stage of Illusion through a long, structured and organised process. Rejection: For instance, a new school has opened in town with a new education system, where the student will complete class one to twelve’s curriculum in just two years rather than twelve long years. You might totally reject the idea, as it sounds absurd. You have never seen or heard anything like this and although you might see repeated advertisements of the short term education system, you will reject it immediately. Peer influence: One day, while reading the newspaper, you come across an attractive advertisement of a Financial Institution, which promises a high return if you invest with them. You ignore it, thinking it’s a scam. You see the same advertisement in another newspaper and then repeatedly on social media.

It’s creating a web of thoughts, ”what if it’s actually true?”. You read the advertisement carefully with the Math. They promise you 10% interest every month for an investment of Rs. 10,000 or above with an additional bonus of 50% at the end of the financial year. You come to know of close relatives and friends who have been investing in this scheme and making profits. Somewhere you also get lured into the idea and discuss it with a friend who also mentions having seen the advertisement and feels it can be given a try. You invest and get a monthly interest of 10%. You spread the word like wildfire and many more gather to the financial institution to invest their life savings, only to lose the entire capital in the long run. The peer influence made us take an irrational decision resulting in a short time gain for a long time loss. Illusion: Finally, we reach a state of mind where illusion and reality become one. We fail to distinguish one from another. The health and fitness industry has successfully created this Illusion. Really? Let me hold the suspense because if I tell you now, you will not believe me.

Chapter 3 FITNESS NEEDS OF A COMMON MAN

was a regular Monday. I was catching up with my clients and a good I tlooking thirty-eight-year-old woman, named Debolina came to my office for a consultation. Debolina worked in an MNC. After gathering all the required information, I planned out a personalised workout regime suitable for her. Debolina understood her exercise regime and like I tell all my clients; I also told her what needs to be done before, during and after the workout. One very important instruction I gave her was she needs to keep sipping water regularly during the workout. Her response came as a shock to me. She said, “I have heard drinking water in between workouts is not good”. Drinking water is always recommended as it’s important to be hydrated during the workout. Water regulates body temperature and lubricates the joints. If you’re not hydrated, your body can’t perform at its highest level and can even lead to cramps and injury. However, I know the human brain when told to do something against its conditioning, it rejects it. So I tried explaining to her with logic. I asked her, “Where did you get this information from?”, to which she replied, “I have seen many documentaries where the army personnel are not allowed to drink water during their training”. I told her to think about an Army personnel’s job and routine. She agreed that they need to be fit as they have to survive challenging situations, extreme weather and hardships. And then I put my logic in place, I told her that they are not allowed to drink water during their training because they are being prepared for any eventuality where they get stuck during wars or combats. Sometimes food and water may not be available to them for endless hours and sometimes even days and so they have to train their body to survive without food and water. They are even trained to feed on snakes to survive if ever they are caught up in a jungle. Would it be wise to compare us to them? Debolina, you ‘n’ me fall into the category of “Common Man”. And when I say “common”, I do not mean “ordinary” at all. We all are extraordinary in our own ways. As far as health and fitness is concerned, a “Common Man” is anyone whose profession does not demand a high level of fitness. Our requirements are different from the celebrities, like the movie stars or the sports stars, whom we generally try to copy. Celebrities work a lot more on their fitness levels as it’s a need of their profession and they would be out of work if they don’t look good or are not fit enough. They get work based on

their bodies which are carved by endless hours of training mentored by professionals of the fitness industry, expert nutritionists and mental health practitioners. They work 24/7 to get the celebrities shape their six-pack abs and bikini bodies. It’s the iceberg effect, we see only their perfect shaped bodies and get lured by it. It also becomes our desire to look like them. We are ignorant of the other part of the iceberg, which is not visible and yet is what is most important. Debolina, you ‘n’ me are not them, not because we can’t achieve that but because our life is different and so are our requirements. We have responsibilities to fulfil at home and at work and within this, we also have to take care of our health and fitness. For us, it’s not only impractical to spend hours for our health and fitness, but more importantly, it is not at all necessary. Debolina was convinced and did not put forth any argument as she had understood that she was comparing apples with oranges. What does a common man need? So now the question arises, What are the fitness needs of a Common Man? A common man’s needs can be simply classified as under: 1) To feel energetic throughout the day. 2) Disease-free life 3) Believe age is just a number and stay young for long. These three are easy to achieve and do not require severe training like celebrities, army personnel or athletes. 1) Why is it necessary to feel energetic all day? Studies show that when you feel energetic, you feel vibrant, active and lively. Your body language will change and you will pass on the positivity to people at your workplace, home and also in social gatherings. The biggest advantage of being energetic is physical well-being and your productivity levels increase multifold. You wouldn’t want to feel lethargic or tired in the middle of the day. With high energy you can do more things throughout the day and can cover all - work, family and personal time. 2) Disease is a situation of dis-ease (unease) in the body, which hampers the proper functions of the body. To ease this, many start taking medication and then fight with the side effects of the prescribed drug as it is rightly said every “pill” has an “ill”. It is of utmost importance for a common man that he/she lives a disease-free life. One should not be dependent on medicines to

move, sleep or eat as it drastically reduces the quality of life. To lead a happy life, one needs to be disease-free. 3) We come across many stories on social media which show older men and women (chronologically) perform physical activities like the youth with the same energy and enthusiasm. We are impressed by seeing these videos and just forward them to others. Rather than learning from them, we fear old age and let our health deteriorate. So I believe another important requirement of a common man like you ‘n’ me is to be able to maintain our youth as long as possible. This way, we can fully enjoy this beautiful life that we are blessed with. Want to know more about it? Stay tuned! Healthspan vs Lifespan Out of the three needs, the first, i.e being energised throughout the day, is easy for us to comprehend. We understand it helps us to spend quality time with our family and be more productive. It brings about a great balance in our life – work, family and personal.

However, the second and the third concept of living a disease-free life and to remain young for a longer time is a little misunderstood. We tend to understand them as having a larger Life Span. However, what we should actually be aware of is the concept of Health Span. Health Span is the number of healthy and functional years a person lives or in a nutshell, quality of life. Longevity does not necessarily mean that we live those years healthily and functional. Hence, Health Span is far more important than Life Span. With the advancement of Medical Science, the global average Life Span has almost doubled in the last century. Here, the question is: How many years are people actually living to their highest health potential and living a quality life? And how many are spent in disease and pain?

Currently, on average, our Health span is only 75% of our lifespan and the balance 25% is spent on serious illnesses and pain. The following graph will help you understand our scenario better : The focus of the common man like you ‘n’ me should be Health Span. If we work towards increasing our Health span to 90% - 95%, this will exponentially increase the quality of our life, not just the years of our life. This will save us from living a painful life, which is mostly dependent on medical help. To achieve this goal, we have to start early in life and the key to this is maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Two important factors that help us to achieve the goal of increasing our Life Span along with our Health Span are Immunity and Metabolism.

LET’S CONNECT Do you believe in the saying… “If you want to walk fast, walk alone If you want to walk far, walk together”? If yes, then do join our community where we encourage each other to take up health and fitness as well as pursue it for life. We also address queries related to health and fitness. If “we” replaces “I”, then even “Illness” becomes “Wellness”. Join us using the link : Fb.com/groups/ffynm

Download all the resources that come with this book using the link: www.nishantbhalotia.com/ffynm

You can download: 1. Worksheets for “The Body Clock – Plan of Action” 2. Answers to FitaQuiz 3. A Sample Diet Chart Connect directly with the Author: Email : [email protected] Fb : fb.com/nishant.bhalotia Fb : fb.com/holisticfitnesscoach holisticfitnesscoach

Chapter 4 IMMUNITY

f one has to remain free from diseases, one must have a high Immunity level. The word immunity originates from the Latin word immunis, which means being exempt from tax and other liabilities. It means the state of being immune to something. For example, the President of India is immune to any legal prosecution as long as he/she is holding the office of the President. Similar is the law in many other countries. When it comes to our health and body, immunity means how resistant our body is to various viruses and germs. There are millions of viruses and germs that attack our body on a regular basis. It is our immune system or immunity that recognises and eliminates them, thereby preventing them from causing disease and illness to our body. Body's Immune system is extremely complex and a vast subject worthy of an encyclopedia being written on it. Nevertheless, I would like to highlight the points, which are important and practical for a common man like you ‘n’ me. It is a system which has the capacity to recognise what is “self” and retain it and what is "foreign" (non-self) and reject it. Immunity is like our body's Police Force which keeps inspecting all the organs of the body and catches hold of any unwanted elements, thereby making our body healthy and disease-free. If our immune system is working effectively, we won't even realise its existence. However, if it's not functioning smoothly, we have to face disease and illness. It's like an anti-virus software of your computer which protects the computer from various virus attacks. It immediately resists the “known” virus and eliminates them as soon as it encounters them. Imagine your computer without such anti-virus software. Your computer would be filled with viruses, meaning its performance will be heavily affected and it may even crash (die). Further, your anti-virus software must always be "upgraded" to fight new viruses else it is unable to identify and eliminate new viruses. Similarly, we always have to keep our immune system strong (or upgraded) so that our body can fight with all such viruses. If our immune system is weak, the virus will penetrate into our body, making our body sick and depending upon the intensity of the virus; it can even be fatal. Our immunity is our first line of defence. Just like in a game of chess, there is a line of pawns in front of all the other pieces, which are very important for the game. Consider our immunity as the line of these pawns and the other pieces as organs and parts of the body. Now imagine chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand is playing a match for the world title and he has been

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asked to play the game without the pawns. Although the pawns can move only one step at a time and their contribution is not directly visible, they play the most important role of protecting the other important pieces, which otherwise will be subject to direct attack from the opponent. If the pawns are removed, there is no chance of the person winning the game. Similarly, our immunity is not visible from the outside but plays a very critical role in protecting our organs and body parts so that we can live a disease-free and healthy life.

Our immune system is made up of two parts: Innate (or General) Immune system and Adaptive (or Specialised) Immune system. They both work in tandem and perform different roles and tasks. The innate system is the first line of defence for our body and it attacks any foreign particles or germs that enter into our body. It responds very fast and prevents the germs from spreading in the body. For example, whenever there is a cut on our skin, there is a possibility of germ spreading through this cut and the innate immune system responds very fast and prevents the germs from spreading in our body. Another example would be when a mosquito bites the red itchy bump you get on your skin is the sign of your immune system working and preventing the germs from spreading into the body. However, the Innate immunity system has a limited capability to fight germs. Adaptive immunity system is the second line of defence and it takes over if the innate immunity system is unable to kill the germs. The adaptive system is slow to respond, as it first recognises the germs and then prepares to fight with these germs. A special feature of the adaptive immune system is that it has a memory bank of germs. The first time a certain category of germs attacks our body, the adaptive system takes a while to fight them. However,

the second time onwards it recognises the germs, through its memory and is very quick to respond. Hence, there are many diseases which do not recur in our lifetime and even if they do, the symptoms are very mild. So the stronger our immune system, the more our body will be able to keep away the germs and viruses and keep us healthy and disease-free. It is important for a common man to assess the current level of immunity. There are signs which the body gives through which one can understand whether the immunity is strong or not. The most prominent signs being: 1. Cold: While it is okay to have the flu or cold once or twice a year, it is a matter of concern if one constantly has a cold. It is a sign of a weak immune system. 2. Stomach problems: Regular diarrhoea, gas or constipation is a classic sign of weak immunity. Our gut houses a lot of good bacteria which kills and attacks the germs and viruses in the digestive tract. Lower numbers of these good bacteria will lead to regular tummy problems and indicate a weak gut and a weak immune system. 3.Wounds: The immune system steps into action as soon as one gets hurt, whether it be a burn, cut or scratch. It sends the required resources such as nutrition-rich blood to these wounds so that they can recover quickly. However, if the immune system is weak, wounds will take longer to heal.

4. Infections: Being attacked by infections frequently is a sign of weak immunity. It can be a recurrent ear infection, pneumonia or constant infection in any part of the body and might require regular doses of medicines to keep them in check. This indicates that the immune system is weak and unable to fight the germs causing the infections. 5. Lethargy (tiredness): Feeling tired because of inadequate sleep for a day or two is not a matter of concern but if the body has got enough rest at night and still feels sluggish and tired, it’s a wake-up call. This indicates the body is preserving the energy for the immune system to perform efficiently, which means the immune system is weak and does not have sufficient energy to

function. At this stage, it’s important to learn as to what adversely affects our immunity and makes it weaker. Some of the top reasons are: - Stress - Smoking and alcohol - Poor eating habits especially high content of refined sugar - Lack of physical exercise and activity - Loneliness or emotional health All of the above put a lot of stress on the immune system and if they persist over a longer period of time, the immune system may be completely damaged. Hence, as soon as we find any sign of weakness in the system, we must try to assess the habits that are attributable to this and immediately correct these habits. Now comes the big question on how to boost immunity? Immunity can be boosted with a good and healthy lifestyle, which is what this book is all about and the relevant points shall be addressed in a later chapter. However, boosting immunity overnight is a myth and taking high doses of supplements to improve immunity will definitely not work. Immunity is going to be the new buzzword and one may come across many such methods that promise to do so. If one’s immunity is already compromised or weak, it can be definitely reversed to a great extent by making lifestyle changes without any further delay. It would be advisable to be aware of the signs mentioned above for a weak immune system and work on boosting the immunity by natural methods.

Chapter 5 METABOLISM

have tried not to use any technical or scientific terms in the whole book and tried to explain concepts that concern a common man in the language which the common man can easily relate and understand. These technical terms are more theoretical and what's more important is how we can practically implement important things in our lives to ensure good health and fitness. However, one word I felt was very important to mention, that is Metabolism. Although it's a technical word, this is something all of us should be aware of and I will make all efforts to explain this concept in as simple terms as possible. In a nutshell, metabolism is the sum total of all the chemical and biological reactions that take place inside our body. It is the process through which what we eat is converted into energy for doing our day to day activities. It can also be called as the energy management system of our body. The faster or efficient our metabolism is, the healthier we will be. If our metabolism slows down it means the food that we eat is not being converted into the desired energy by the body, which in turn will make us unhealthy. We require energy to do any activity and all our organs require energy to perform their functions. Hence, if the energy required is not available, our body and organs won't be able to perform efficiently and this would lead to loss of health. We can compare our body to a fully operational company. There are various departments and they perform various activities in coordination for the company. The various departments function simultaneously be it the Human Resources, Marketing, Purchase, Planning, Production or Logistics. All are working towards one single goal, which is to make profits for the company. Metabolism here would mean the sum of all such activities giving the resultant output as “Profits”. If all the functions are performed efficiently, the profits will be higher and if performed inefficiently, the profits will reduce over time. The company may be hit by issues like bad market conditions or change in demand and supply, but these are short term in nature. If all the departments are performing their functions efficiently, although the health of the company might get a setback for a short time due to any such external factor, it will sail through and make regular and healthy profits in the long run. On the other hand, if the departments are inefficient in performing their functions, the company might see a continuous decline in the health of

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the company even if all external conditions are favourable and if this persists, the company might even perish and die. In other words, if the company wants to stay “young” and “healthy” it needs to keep generating profits and this can only be achieved when all its functions are being performed efficiently, in other words, the “Metabolism” of the company is good. Similar is the case with our body. All the various organs like the heart, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, intestines, liver, lungs, sex organs, muscles and skin, need energy to perform their functions. Even if the body is at complete rest, such functions are continuously being performed. If all these organs are performing efficiently, just like all the departments of the company, we will get the desired output - “good health” - just like the company gets “profits”. But if these organs are inefficient in performing their functions, just like the company, our health will also go down. Further, just like the company can exist for years if it continuously generates “profits”, so can our body be young and healthy for years if we ensure our metabolism is good.

In other words, metabolism is another word for ageing and our actual age depends on our metabolism. One of the very important goals of the common man is to try to be as young as possible for as long as possible. Hence, it is very important for us to understand how we can keep our metabolism high and thereby delay the ageing process. It is natural for metabolism to slow with age, but the opposite is also true that we age because our metabolism slows down. To a great extent we can control slowing of metabolism due to natural ageing by maintaining the desired level of physical activity and by maintaining our muscle mass. There have been many studies and research to establish that our metabolism

depends a lot on these two factors. People say it’s natural that our level of physical activity reduces as we age. But again we need to ask ourselves - Do we age because our physical activity gets reduced? I personally think the latter is more relevant. The other factor is the amount of muscle mass. In various studies, it has been found that metabolism is directly related to the muscle mass and if we lose muscle mass, then our metabolism also weakens. Further, it is found in various studies that the human body naturally starts losing muscle after the age of 30. Hence, beyond this age, we must focus on building and retaining muscle mass. This will help us keep our metabolism stronger or in other words, will help us stay young as long as possible. The right kind of exercises supported by a good lifestyle will help us achieve this goal. Thus, we learnt how important metabolism is for our ageing process and how metabolism is largely dependent on muscle mass. I am not going into the technical details of how muscles affect our metabolism as this will require a lot of explanation of complicated biological processes, which are not important for us to know at this point. Chronological Age vs Biological Age We all have been to birthday parties in our childhood, but Suman, a chartered accountant and a close friend of mine, gets excited even at her age (will disclose her age later). She was hosting her birthday party and had warned all of us to block our dates and the rest four of us in the group were excited to make her day special. When the day arrived, we reached her place to a warm cosy lunch party with only few other guests. We were surprised and thrilled at the same time, as it was a spa party with real masseurs and the ambience had the aroma of the natural oils and all we wanted to do was relax and get a foot massage done for as long as possible. Needless to say, I did not leave the massage chair and sat there till Suman announced her cake cutting. We all gathered around and were waiting for her to cut the cake. My eyes suddenly fell upon the candles on her cake. They were the ones in the shape of digits, the ones which are nowadays made for people like us who can’t accommodate 44 candles on their cake. To my surprise, Suman, who is just two years younger to me, had the number 35 on her cake instead of 42! I was not sure if I understood it right and asked my friends what the reason was and they were as unaware as me.

I couldn’t hold back and went up to Suman and asked her the reason to put up 35. Her answer was a eureka moment for me! She said she recently got her biological age checked and that’s 35 and that from now on she has decided to celebrate her birthdays according to her biological age and not her chronological age. What a novel idea!

Chronological age as we all know is the number of years that have passed since our birth. It can be called an external factor of age and is irreversible. Whereas the Biological age, simply put, is the age of our cells and this is the actual age of our body. This, fortunately, is reversible to a great extent. There are many ways you can check your biological age by advanced scientific tests. However, a common man like you ‘n’ me don't need to go through that process as there are simpler methods available. A whole body scan at any pathological lab can also quite accurately ascertain the biological age. However, the easiest way is to get a weighing machine with additional features, which measures your biological age keeping other factors in mind like your chronological age, body fat%, muscle% etc. Although, the accuracy is not as high as a full body scan, but they are fairly accurate and solves the needs of a common man. These machines are not at all expensive and one must have at home. Adopting a healthy lifestyle can help you reverse your biological age and this book will guide you through the process. So how many candles do you want to blow on your next birthday?

Chapter 6 WEALTH MANAGEMENT VS HEALTH MANAGEMENT

From a young age, our mind is conditioned to focus on a successful career and once this goal is achieved, our entire effort goes into wealth planning for our retirement. An average individual finishes his/her education by the age of 25 and steps into one’s professional career. As early as 30 years of age we start financial planning for our retirement, which is required at an average age of 60, i.e. planning 30 years in advance. This planning is done by most of us whether we are entrepreneurs, professionals or 9-5 office goers. The basic structure for all is the same with a little variation here and there. Let us try and analyse why we plan financially for our retirement. Amongst many other logical reasons, the following would top the list : 1) We will not be able to work forever and hence we must have decent savings by the time we retire, which would see us through for the remaining part of our lives. 2) We would not want to be financially dependent on our family or anyone else. 3) We may want to save enough to pursue our passions in life such as travelling etc. for which we would require a good corpus of wealth.

Now let us analyse each of these points from the perspective of health. Let’s replace the words like “finance”, “work” and “wealth” with “health” and see whether it still makes sense or not : 1) We will not have good health forever and hence we must have decent savings (in health), which would see us through for the remaining part of our lives. 2) We would not want to be dependent (health-wise) on our family or anyone else. 3) We may want to pursue our passions in life such as travelling etc. for which we would require good health. In my opinion, all three points when replaced with an angle of health still makes complete sense. It's thought-provoking that if we devote long hours in

planning our financial retirement shouldn't we also spend a fraction of our time planning our health retirement - for building up a "corpus of health" just like we build a corpus of wealth? It is ironical that while we are unaware of how our wealth would be at the age of 60 - it can be good, it can be great or it can be bad - we still plan for it judiciously, whereas on the other hand we surely know that we will not be in the best of our health at the age of 60 and yet we do not plan for our retirement in terms of health. The question now is why ! The answer happens to be the same... there is an illusion created around us and it does not allow us to behave rationally. In spite of being aware of the fact that our health will not be the same at the age of 60, we do nothing before it’s too late. We start thinking of our health only when it finds a way into our doctor's prescription and till then we take it for granted. I know you are waiting for the illusion to unfold. Stay tuned!! We have already analysed how the reasons to plan our health retirement are similar to those of planning our financial retirement. Now let’s compare the path to build our health corpus with that of building our wealth corpus. There were two friends, Ajay and Vijay. Both finished their graduation at the same time and also started their careers together as small business owners. Both earned the same amount of Rs. 25,000/- per month. Once they started earning, the time was right to start financial planning for various goals in life, including that of retirement. However, both of them had a different mindset when it came to financial planning. Ajay took the route of prioritising saving, i.e. he decided to first save 10% of his monthly earnings and then manage his household expenses. So he started saving Rs. 2500/- every month. Vijay, on the other hand, was of the view that he will save whatever is left with him after meeting his expenses. Initially, when the motivation for savings was high, Vijay cut down his monthly expenses and managed to save even Rs. 10000/-, i.e. 40% of his earnings. While Ajay continued to save 10% of his earnings month after month, Vijay started to feel the pinch, especially when the initial excitement died down. Not being able to save 40% of his earnings every month, this amount came down month after month and soon it became erratic and there were months in which Vijay could not save anything. Since his approach was to save after spending, many a times nothing was left to be saved. Because of this, Vijay slowly moved out of the habit of saving, while Ajay was able to be persistent because of his approach.

After a few years, when Vijay took a restock of his savings, he saw he had hardly saved anything and even the interest earned on his savings was nothing substantial. He became impatient and withdrew all his savings and used it for some other purpose, while Ajay continued with his plan of saving 10% month after month. He did not look at his earnings on interest every month or every year. He was patient and aware about the magic of compounding and he knew that by the time of his retirement, he would build up a huge corpus. It is needless to ask who, amongst the two, was a better planner and was able to build a huge corpus at the time of his retirement along with meeting other financial goals on the way. In the above story, if you noticed, there are 5 ‘P’s in Wealth Management and let's see if the same are applicable for Health Management too. 1. PLAN: This is the first P and we have already discussed the need to plan wealth as well as health. We also know that the earlier we plan and start, the larger will be our corpus (whether wealth or health). 2. PRIORITY: The second P is Priority. Ajay prioritised savings so he could build a huge corpus over a long period of time and since Vijay did not, he faltered mid-way. Talking about health management, for example, if we are looking at exercising for 30-60 minutes a day, the one’s like Ajay would ensure that they spend this 30-60 minutes on exercise first thing in the morning and then plan the rest of the day. On the other hand, the one’s like Vijay, would first give preference to finishing the day’s work and then if sufficient time is left, they can devote to exercise. Needless to mention that just like Vijay failed to build a wealth corpus, people like him would also fail to build a health corpus. It is sad but true that most of us are like Vijay when it comes to health management. 3. PINCH: The third P is PINCH. Ajay invested for his future savings an amount that would not "pinch" him in the present and what he could continuously invest throughout his life. Similarly, even in health, we should invest such an amount of time from our day, which does not pinch us. If we get carried away in the beginning like Vijay and end up spending the whole day - either exercising or thinking of what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat etc. - after a few days or weeks it will start pinching us and ultimately we will give it up. How much to invest in health is a personal choice, just like how much to invest in wealth. The bottom line, whether it's wealth or health, is that it should not pinch us in the present, for the sake of our future. You can

invest as low as 15 to 20 minutes in a day if your routine doesn't allow you an hour for exercise. The key is consistency. 4. PERSISTENCE: The fourth P is Persistence. We need to keep investing in health throughout our life, just like Ajay kept investing in wealth. Not being persistent in our health journey, would mean we will eventually move out of this habit just like Vijay. If we leave either of it midway, we will never be able to build the desired corpus - be it wealth or health. 5. PATIENCE: The fifth P is Patience. Ajay was not concerned how much his money had grown after 6 months or 12 months or 2 years as he was looking not for short term gain and knew the importance of having a long term vision. In the same way, we also should not judge our health return in terms of how we have benefited by exercising in a week or month or 3 months. Our goal should be long term gain as "Fitness is a journey and not a destination". When we exercise regularly and live a healthy lifestyle, we make little unnoticeable progress in our health each day, just like in our financial savings. When measured over a longer period of time, we would see amazing results, just like Ajay accumulated a substantial corpus by the time of his retirement. Impatience will lead to demotivation and we would land up like Vijay.

To summarise, the reasons and examples mentioned in the chapter about wealth management and health management are identical. The means to achieve our goals both, in health and in wealth, are also similar. Unfortunately, while 90% of us focus on planning our wealth, only 10% of us focus on planning our health. The end result is that while most of us have a wealth corpus at the time of our retirement, we don’t have a health corpus to enjoy the wealth that we have created over the years. Statistics state that 46% of diabetics are under the age of 40. Here we are speaking facts and figures of one such lifestyle disease others being Hypertension, Fatty Liver etc. The quality of our lives drastically falls at the onset of any such lifestyle disease. Let's try to develop a balanced lifestyle

where we invest both in Wealth and Health so that we can enjoy the wealth that we have created for ourselves. Let us act wisely like Ajay and not impulsively like Vijay. Once the illusion is cleared, you would be able to act like Ajay and not Vijay when it comes to Health Management. RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) Let's continue to talk about "Investment" and when we talk about investment, how can we not talk about ROI or Return on Investment. We always calculate and forecast ROI on our investments in wealth. Let's see if it is also possible to calculate the ROI on investments made in health. A simple way of calculating the ROI would be to compare the time spent on taking care of our health, such as exercise vis-a-vis the time that is earned from this investment. No time for fitness? - There are 525,600 minutes in a year - You need to invest 4 days x 40 minutes or 5 days x 30 minutes, i.e. about 150 minutes/week - Total Yearly Investment = 52 x 150 = 7800 minutes - That is only 1.5% of your total time! Do you still think you are too busy and have no time to exercise? Let me give you another incentive : “Keeping in mind other factors that could impact life expectancy, such as socioeconomic status, the study found that doing the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week yielded approximately 3.4 extra years to one's life.” (Ref: www.blueprintincome.com)

So in 30 years you invest 30 x 7800 minutes = 2,34,000 minutes And this adds 3.4 years to your life = 3.4 x 5,25,600 = 17,87,040 Minutes So the ROI = 763% !!! This ROI is in direct terms considering the time invested and the extra time earned. If you want to assign a monetary value to it, it would be PRICELESS !! But still, let us try and see whether you also get any monetary benefits out of this investment. - With better health, you would save a lot of costs that would otherwise be spent on medical treatment during your lifespan. “When earning members of families were asked what is their biggest reason for their worries, about half of all members pointed ‘personal and family health’. Around 46% of respondents cited healthcare as their major concern. Just 34% of families in India said that they meet their medical expenses with ease. Almost half of the Indian families admit that they manage their healthcare cost with ‘some difficulty’ while 14% of all Indian families confessed that that had ‘great difficulty’ in arranging money for medical emergencies.” (Source: https://www.gibl.in/blog/health-insurance/one-in-10-people-in -urban-india-will-spend-more-than-1-lac-this-year-for-medical-cost/)

- Additionally, since you will be healthier throughout your working career, your productivity will be much higher and hence your earnings (whether employed, self-employed or in business) will be much higher than what you

could earn if you continuously have to face health issues during your working life. A simple example would be the number of leaves one needs to take due to sickness or treatment of sickness. The frequency of one falling sick will drastically reduce with regular exercise. This would be direct savings/earnings. - The other most obvious monetary benefit would be that if your healthspan increases, then you would continue to earn for an additional 3 to 4 years or more. Considering 60 as the standard age of retirement, we can only imagine what it would mean to get an extension of service/business for another 3 to 4 years at least. The combined ROI, in terms of increasing your lifespan (as well as healthspan) and the monetary benefits, is invaluable and you still don’t think the best investment you could make is on your own health? Given that you are not aware of the exact data and numbers, but by basic understanding and logic, you know that health is the best investment you can make. And still, something is holding you back from investing in health? Any guesses what that “some” thing is? (Hint : The Illusion)

Chapter 7 BENEFITS OF EXERCISE & HEALTHY LIVING

n entire book can be dedicated to this topic as the benefits of exercise are infinite. However, since we are limited to only one chapter, I will try to highlight the top few. The vital point I want you to keep in mind is that no one size fits all and every person, according to one’s age and body requirement, needs to personalise their exercises. A 12 year old needs daily exercise as much as a 60 year old and it is quite obvious that they both can't do the same exercises. The benefits can be derived only if we are doing the right exercise tailormade for us. Saying that I would like to emphasise that there is no age to start exercising and you can start the day you realize you need to exercise and that's what is most important. Whether you are 12, 50 or even 80 years old there are exercises suitable for you and age can never be an excuse not to exercise. As it’s said “it's never too early nor too late to start” and that “the best time to start was yesterday and the second-best time is today".

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Here we are discussing some of the diseases and how exercise can help us deal with them. 1. Helps Prevent / Control / Reverse Diabetes : Diabetes is a disease which is characterised by high glucose levels in the blood. The sugar level or the Glucose level in our body is controlled by a hormone called Insulin which is produced by the pancreas. Whenever there is a rise in sugar level (for example after we eat), Insulin is produced by the pancreas to regulate the levels of glucose in the blood by transferring this glucose to the cells, which in turn uses glucose as fuel. There are 2 types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2 Type 2 Diabetes steps in when this response by the pancreas becomes poor, that is, either the amount of Insulin required is not produced, or there is a lack of response to the Insulin produced. This means that even though the pancreas produces a high amount of Insulin, it's still unable to bring down the level of sugar. The Insulin, in this case, fails to transfer the glucose into the cells and the glucose remains in the blood and hence you get High Blood Sugar levels. The other type of Diabetes is Type 1, which is a condition where the body does not produce any insulin. This occurs from a very young age, sometimes even by birth and is also called Juvenile diabetes. The reasons for this type of diabetes are unknown and it is not possible to reverse this disease. This needs to be treated medically by Insulin injections. Since Type 1 Diabetes is not a “lifestyle” disease, it is outside the purview of this book and wherever “diabetes” is mentioned in this book, it implies “Type 2 Diabetes”.

Type 2 Diabetes is more common and develops over a period of time. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented, controlled and reversed to a great extent by maintaining a good and healthy lifestyle. India is amongst the countries having the highest number of diabetics. A study was done and it was observed that about 9% of the urban population was affected by diabetes, whereas only 3% of the rural population was affected by this disease. It is quite evident from these numbers that it is the lifestyle, which has a great impact on this disease. (Source: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/global-diabetes/ diabetes-in-india.html#:~:text=Over%2030%20million% 20have%20now,cent%20of%20the%20total%20population.)

Insulin Resistance is a state where the body needs to produce more Insulin to regulate the same amount of glucose. For example, earlier to regulate 1 unit of glucose, the body needed 1 unit of Insulin. Over a period of time, now to regulate the same 1 unit of glucose, the body needs 2 units of Insulin. This gradually increases over time and is potentially a precursor to Type 2 Diabetes. Exercise can help prevent, control and reverse Type 2 Diabetes to a great extent and in fact, is an essential part of the treatment (whether prevention, control or reversal) of Type 2 Diabetes. During exercise, your muscles consume more glucose which reduces the glucose levels in your blood. Also, exercise increases the body's sensitivity to Insulin, and in simple words, the Insulin does a better job and hence, this also takes care of Insulin Resistance. Effects of Diabetes : Diabetes can be controlled to a great extent, but if left untreated, the excess glucose in the blood can create havoc in the entire body attacking all organs and parts of the body. It increases the risk of heart diseases and heart attack,

leads to nerve damage, damages the kidneys and can affect the eyes and even cause blindness. Wounds take more time to heal in people suffering from diabetes and in some cases, may even lead to amputation (removal of limbs through surgery). The risk of death is much higher in case of people suffering from diabetes compared to those who are not. After reading the scary effects of diabetes, treating this chronic disease should be a priority for everyone who is suffering from diabetes or is in a prediabetic stage and is likely to develop diabetes over a period of time. I can’t emphasise enough how efficient is exercise coupled with a good and healthy lifestyle to prevent, control as well as reverse diabetes. 2. Helps Prevent / Control / Reverse High Cholesterol :

Cholesterol is a wax-like substance, which is present in the cells of the body and which the body needs to produce various hormones, vitamins and other substances which are required to digest food. However, if the quantity of cholesterol increases, it can form plaque-like substances and stick to the walls of the arteries, which may lead to blockages. There are good cholesterols (HDL) and bad cholesterols (LDL and VLDL) in our body and it is a long-standing debate within the medical fraternity whether cholesterol is good or bad for us. Also, there are speculations to understand if the cholesterol in our diet has anything to do with the cholesterol levels in our body. One thing is for sure that high cholesterol can be caused by lack of activity and exercise and bad habits such as smoking. Also, it is certain that regular exercise can definitely help in regulating the levels of cholesterol in our body. Hence, the best thing is to stay away from the technical debate and focus on our lifestyle. 3. Helps to prevent / control / reverse High Blood Pressure [Hypertension]

Blood pressure is the pressure which the blood puts on the walls of the arteries while circulating. When the heart beats, pumping blood into our arteries, the pressure is highest (this is called systolic pressure) and when the heart is at rest in between two beats, the pressure is low (this is called diastolic pressure). You must have heard the term that someone's Blood Pressure is 120/80. This means that the systolic pressure is 120 and the diastolic pressure is 80. High blood pressure or hypertension is the state when the blood pressure is always at an elevated level. Although high blood pressure itself does not have any main symptoms, it can cause various complications such as heart attack, stroke, loss of vision, chronic kidney disease etc. Lifestyle changes are important to control or lower blood pressure. Regular exercise is the most important lifestyle change to control and normalise the pressure for a long period of time. [Source : (Semlitsch T, Jeitler K, Berghold A, Horvath K, Posch N, Poggenburg S, Siebenhofer A (March 2016). "Long-term effects of weight-reducing diets in people with hypertension". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3: CD008274. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008274.pub3. PMC 7154764. PMID 26934541.)]

4. Helps to get Stronger Heart and Lungs

Our heart and lungs are a type of muscle and with proper exercise, these muscles can become stronger and healthier. A good combination of cardio exercises and strength training can help us achieve this. Such exercises improve blood circulation and also the efficiency of our heart and lungs. To perform any activity, we get energy from the oxygen in our blood and when we increase the level of activity, we need more oxygen and hence the heart has to pump faster to meet this demand of excess oxygen. This is the prime reason why we feel our heart rate rising whenever we do any kind of

vigorous activity. A simple example would explain how this works. Say you live on the third floor and while you are walking up the stairs you would require higher energy than normal. The heart and the lungs have to work more to give you that extra energy. By the time you start climbing the floors and you reach your flat, you need higher energy and to meet the energy of this activity, let’s say your heart has to pump 250 times. If you start a regular exercise routine, after a few days or weeks, you will see that to do the same activity, that is climbing the same three floors, your heart needs to beat only 225 times. This is an indication that your heart and lungs have become more efficient and stronger. To summarise my point, regular exercising will keep the heart and lungs healthy and strong and keep us away from various heart-related diseases. Even if you are already suffering from heart disease, the right kind of exercises will help you reverse the disease to a great extent. 5. Helps to make our Muscles and Bones stronger

Muscles and bones are what keep us active and moving. The structure and appearance of our body come from our skeleton, which does not move on its own. The muscles around the bones, i.e. the muscular system, help us to make all the necessary movements of the body. For example, at this very moment, you are using the muscles of your arms to hold this book and the muscles around your neck to keep the neck erect (muscles we are not even aware of). It’s the same with all other activities. Strong muscles and bones are what keep us stay young and active even in our old age. This is possible through regular exercise. Many of us must have heard that, with age, our BMD i,e, our Bone Mineral Density, starts going down. This only implies that our bones become weaker and brittle and become prone to injuries and fractures.

Suitable exercises such as weight training and resistance training can help keep our muscles and bones stronger for a long time. The right kind of exercises can also help reverse various lifestyle related joint pains such as knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain etc. One can even prevent such joint pains by exercising regularly. 6. Exercise is anti-stress and anti-depressant

With the advent of urban and modern lifestyle, there is an alarming increase in the level of stress and depression amongst people. The demands of such a lifestyle can be very taxing and can have an adverse effect on our mental health, leading to a great deal of stress and depression over a period of time. Stress, as we know, is supposed to be the mother of all diseases and it can almost be attributed as the reason for any ailment or disease. Doctors, while prescribing medicines for any lifestyle disease, would insist on reducing stress simultaneously. While we look for solutions in various pharmaceutical medicines to reduce our stress, we do not realise that exercise is the best natural stress buster and immediately elevates our mood and cuts down our stress level. Exercise produces a lot of positive hormones such as endorphins and dopamine, which in turn help reduce stress levels. These hormones are also called the “Happy Hormones” and as the name suggests, gives us a feeling of happiness. Since exercising helps bring down stress levels, it also reduces the risk of diseases that can be caused by stress. Depression is one of the major problems, especially for the urban population and this not only affects moods, thoughts and productivity but can sometimes turn fatal too. When someone is in depression, their quality of life is hampered. I firmly believe that regular exercise, along with other lifestyle changes, can help people come out of mental health conditions like depression and can help them lead a normal and happy life. 7. Helps in hormonal balance, especially in women

Hormones are the chemical messengers of the body that flow through the entire stream and advise the different organs how they need to function. They coordinate and control activities throughout the body. These are produced in endocrine glands. Hormonal balance is extremely important else it can lead to a lot of difficulties. Consider the entire hormonal system like making a cup of tea. If any ingredient in the tea is either less or more, the tea will become distasteful. Similar is the case with the hormonal system. If any hormone is either less or more, it is a state of hormonal imbalance and it will lead to improper functioning of organ(s).

Hormonal imbalances can lead to many conditions like depression, fatigue, lack of sleep, decreased sex drive, changes in weight - either weight gain or weight loss and many other conditions. The list is endless. Therefore, it is important to maintain hormonal balance for the proper functioning of the body. Hormonal imbalance is more prevalent in women as they move through different stages in life such as adolescence, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. These stages can disturb the hormonal balance and in turn, lead to depression and irritable behaviour amongst other symptoms. Various kinds of exercise, such as yoga and strength training, can be practised to help maintain hormonal balance. However, this needs to be a lifestyle change and not a short term course/camp if one wants to reap benefits. 8. Exercise in Anti-Ageing We are always on the lookout for anti-ageing creams and lotions to look younger. Cosmetic procedures are also becoming prevalent these days for the same. But let us first understand why we age. We do not look older due to ageing but more due to inactivity. As we age, our activity level naturally reduces, which in turn results in loss of overall fitness and especially muscle mass. This is what we need to take care of instead of resorting to artificial methods. Do you know what is the best and most natural anti-ageing formula? Yes, it's regular exercise.

Ageing means the onset of various diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases etc. We have already discussed that exercise helps us to prevent and control all lifestyle diseases caused by ageing and so we can comfortably say exercise is anti-ageing. A good mix of exercises such as cardio, strength, flexibility and mobility will help us to stay fit, be in shape and overall young. Such a body can definitely be referred to as the “fountain of youth”. As discussed in previous chapters, there is a difference between the chronological age and the actual biological age. Also, our biological age can be much lesser than our chronological age and one can feel and look younger than the chronological age. Metabolism, as already discussed earlier, plays a very significant role in this, which in turn depends upon the level of activity and muscle mass - both of which are products of regular exercise. 9. Helps in fighting age-related diseases

Exercise does wonders to keep you younger and in combating age-related diseases such as Parkinson's and other movement disorders associated with old age. People who start exercising at an early age can even prevent the onset of such diseases, and those who are already suffering from them can, to a great extent, control their progress by regular exercise.

The biggest concern with age-related diseases, apart from the symptoms, is the risk of "falls". Exercise improves body balance and reduces the number of falls, which is very common in old age. Exercise, directly and indirectly, affects mental health in a positive way. For example, in the case of Parkinson disease, the best known medicine that controls its progress releases a hormone called "dopamine". It's amazing to know that this hormone is naturally produced when we exercise. In this way, it directly addresses the disease and helps control it. Exercise indirectly helps by boosting mental health and confidence of the person dealing with the disease. The individual can lead an active social life, which is very important for the mental health of any person. 10. Fights various forms of cancer Exercise is considered as the secret weapon for fighting cancer. Every cancer survivor is prescribed with regular exercise. It is evident that the level of exercise will depend on the current physical state of each person. But even light activity and exercise goes a long way in combating cancer and resuming health after the treatment. Some cancer survivors also experience mental health issues like depression and anxiety. We have discussed earlier the effectiveness of exercise to cure mental health issues as well. So exercising regularly can help cancer survivors heal physically and mentally. This will help them to return to a happy and normal life after treatment.

Regular exercise also helps to prevent various forms of cancer. In fact, a study from researchers at the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute links exercise with lowering risk of 13 specific types of cancer. (Source : https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/exercise -linked-with-lower-risk-of-13-types-of-cancer.html)

11. Helps boost immunity

We have already discussed immunity and its importance earlier in the book. Regular exercise enhances blood circulation and it also ensures good circulation of the antibodies and white blood cells. As a result, they move rapidly throughout our body, quickly identifying and destroying the germs and viruses more effectively compared to a state of no-exercise.

Immunity does not depend on one factor and it is too complex a system to be understood in clear terms. An overall approach is required to improve immunity and exercise definitely plays a vital role in doing so. With so many benefits, doesn't exercise seem like “Amrit" (nectar)? Exercise touches all areas of life in a positive way. To summarise, it fights cancer, age-related diseases, helps in building our immunity, helps us to feel and look younger. I guess if something like Amrit really existed, exercise would rank very close to it. But my question remains - why do most of us not exercise when it has such immense benefits? The same question comes again - why do we behave irrationally when it comes to health and fitness and in this case, exercise. Well, the answer is the same - we are under an ILLUSION! Do you think it's now time to disclose what the illusion is? Is your mind ready to get introduced to reality? Will you be willing to accept the fact that it's an illusion considering all the facts I have stated so far in this book or, will you still find it difficult to believe and remain captive in the illusion strongly created around us? I think disclosing it right now will still have some disbelief to the concept so let's wait a bit more.

Chapter 8 BARRIERS TO EXERCISE

et us examine what research has to say about barriers to exercise or in other words, what stops us from exercising. Even after knowing numerous benefits of exercise and understanding how exercise helps in curing diseases, both physically and mentally, most of us still stay away from exercising regularly. What could be the potential barriers or obstacles in the way to exercise? If we search for “barriers to exercise” on the internet, the following reasons would pop up : 1. Lack of time 2. Lack of energy 3. Lack of knowledge 4. Fear of getting injured 5. Frequent travelling 6. Homebound 7. Embarrassed to workout in front of others 8. Finding exercise boring 9. Lack of facilities or infrastructure 10. Lack of motivation and discipline Above are amongst the top reasons that people give for not being able to take up an exercise routine. When we go through these problems, at first glance, they seem to be genuine issues. But let's look at the other side of the coin and look back in time. We are humans! We have survived the worst of times and come out with solutions to the biggest of problems under the sun. Whether it is surviving the Spanish flu in the early 20th century or it is the recent pandemic, we know how to get our way out of the biggest of problems. We have fought it all! We have reached the Moon and Mars. So are you convinced that humans, who are capable of achieving such feats, are not able to find solutions to such simple problems as enumerated above? Let me as an individual try to find solutions to each of the above problems and if I, being the same common man like you, can succeed in finding solutions, then why is it that the entire mankind is unable to find solutions? Let's take them one by one : 1. Lack of time : Problem: This is the topmost reason given by people globally for not being able to exercise. They say even though they have 24 hours in a day, the workload, personal chores and social commitments keep them so busy that it becomes difficult or rather impossible to take out time to exercise. Especially

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the urban lifestyle is so fast-paced and requires them to catch up with the speed of others, taking out time for one’s own self and to exercise seems a herculean task. Solution: Can this really be a reason? Come on! We know we can find time to move mountains if we have to. It is never the lack of time for anything that we want to do; it is always the lack of priority. But still, let me give it the benefit of doubt and try to find a solution as per the problem. a. I agree to a certain extent that while we need 30 to 60 minutes of exercise, we need an additional 30 to 60 minutes if we have to go to the gym or any other place for exercise. A lot of time is spent on commuting as well as on socialising at the place of exercise. Hence, one has to take out approximately 90 to 120 minutes a day, which may be a bit challenging for many. A simple solution is that people who can't take out that additional 30 to 60 minutes can easily follow an exercise routine in the comfort of their home. Anyone can follow an exercise routine on their own if they are trained, or they can identify quality service providers who provide fitness trainers at home. This routine will only take 30-60 minutes flat and then they are good to go for the day.

b. Now those who cannot spare the 30 to 60 minutes of exercise and call themselves too busy, they fail to understand that if they take out these 30 minutes from their existing busy schedule and devote it to exercise, their productivity in the remaining twenty three and half hours will be much more. It's never about the time spent on a particular work; it's always the productivity that we get in the time spent. So if the productivity is higher with 23.5 hours (plus a half-hour of exercise) than the usual 24 hours, which one will be your pick? Nevertheless, the reality is that if we are trying to push an “excuse” as a reason, no argument would be fruitful. In all my seminars and talks I have emphasised that lack of time is an excuse and the recent lockdown situation has just proved it right. In this situation, we had loads and loads of time, but

how many of us started with an exercise routine? If lack of time was the real reason, then we would have seen at least ninety out of a hundred people starting their fitness journey, but I don't even see five out of hundred doing this. Another interesting point is that the topmost barrier to exercise, as per all surveys, has proven to be a myth during the recent lockdown situation. How fruitful would it then be to speak about the other barriers! However, just for the sake of giving all of them the benefit of doubt, let's see if there are any solutions for the remaining barriers. 2. Lack of energy : Problem: For many, a reason for not exercising regularly is they feel low on energy or feel fatigued. Thus, gathering the strength to exercise becomes difficult. Solution: Each one of us has a different energy cycle in the 24 hour day. For some, their energies might be at the peak during morning hours and low as the day moves toward evening or vice versa. Some might find their energies to be the highest in the afternoon. So if one understands the energy pattern of their body, he/she can exercise at that time of the day when the energy is at its peak. Also, the irony is that it is exercise which will help build energy if one is low on it. One need not start with very high-intensity exercises and can start with exercises that do not require high levels of energy. As and when the energy is built up, one can also increase the intensity of exercises. For example, a very effective exercise which does not require high levels of energy is walking.

3. Lack of knowledge : Problem: Many feel their lack of knowledge and information regarding exercise leaves them confused as to how to begin and what kind of exercises are suitable for them. Solution: Whenever we want to start something new, we do not have the

requisite knowledge about it. Even our simple day to day activities like driving a car or a bike needs training. All of us may be aware that it's the accelerator which takes the car/bike forward and the break that stops it, we still must undergo training under an expert. Once we have acquired the skill, we can be on our own. Similar is the case with any skill or exercise. Hiring a good fitness trainer takes care of this problem completely. Just like in the case of a car/bike, once we have gathered enough knowledge about exercise, we can be on our own. Further, an exercise like brisk walking does not require much skill/knowledge and can easily be taken up. 4. Fear of getting injured : Problem: Another reason is if someone has seen or heard a friend or relative being injured during their regular exercise routine, a fear creeps into the mind that exercise leads to injury and hence they abstain from getting involved in any physical exercise. Solution: Exercise is not a one-size-fit-all programme. What a 12 year old can do a 70 year old definitely cannot do. People get injured when they follow the wrong programme and without safety measures. The solution, as mentioned in reason 3 is the way out in this case too. A good trainer will ensure that you stay away from injuries. In other words, it is the lack of knowledge that gets one injured and one can avoid injury by gaining knowledge on the subject. 5. Frequent travelling : Problem: Many people have long office hours and even have to travel frequently to meet work demands and commitments. Hence, they find it difficult to have a regular exercise regime. Erratic travel and work schedule stop many from committing to regular exercise. Solution: Exercise doesn't mean that you are bound to go to a gym or have a trainer beside you at all times. Even brisk walking is an exercise, which can be done easily even while travelling. All you need is a pair of walking shoes that you can carry in your travel luggage and you are good to go. No matter which part of the world you are in, nothing stops you from walking and that's the best part about it - you are not bound by any infrastructure like gyms and parks.

6. Homebound : Problem: Many people have a lot of personal commitments at home like they need to attend their ageing parents or new mothers have to look after their young ones all the time. They cannot leave home to exercise or for that matter any other activity unless it's absolutely necessary. Solution: As already discussed, one doesn't necessarily need to go to a gym or a park to maintain an exercise routine. Exercise can easily be done in the comfort of the home while taking care of the loved ones. For a common man like you ‘n’ me, we don't really need very high intense programmes, which can only be done in a gym or a club. To maintain our health and fitness, a simple exercise routine is good enough and it can be easily done at home. The same solution as mentioned in point 1 a) above will work well in this case too. 7. Embarrassed to workout in front of others : Problem: A very popular reason is being under pressure to always “look good” and some people are so conscious in front of the society and are embarrassed about how they look that they avoid going to public places like gyms, parks etc. to exercise. Hence, they do not follow any exercise routine at all. Solution: If you are really embarrassed about yourself, which in the first place you should not be, you can work out in the privacy of your home where you will not be watched and judged by anyone. Again, the same solution as mentioned in point 1 a) above will work well here. 8. Finding exercise boring : Problem: This is a common problem that needs no explanation. People might have tried exercising at some time in their lives and found it so boring that they strike off exercise from their bucket list. Solution: Exercise does not mean any one particular form of activity. There are so many options available, like walking, swimming, gyming, yoga, pilates etc. The list is endless. One can also take up a sport. Even sports have variety,

such as table tennis, badminton etc. The options available are infinite and each one of us can find something that interests us, is enjoyable and suits our age. 9. Lack of facilities or infrastructure : Problem: Many of us might not have open access or memberships to gyms and clubs. Even if they are available, it might take a lot of time to commute because of the distance or might be heavy on the pocket (expensive) and hence they become inaccessible.

Solution: If one really wants to exercise then a small area of three feet by six feet and an exercise mat is good enough for one to start exercising. I am sure most of us have this infrastructure available to us. Again, walking is an exercise that doesn't need any infrastructure and all it requires is a good pair of walking shoes and a road, with less or no traffic, if nothing else is available. 10. Lack of motivation or discipline : Problem: Many lack self-motivation and this does not push them enough to follow a disciplined exercise routine. Even if they start, they find it difficult to be disciplined to pursue any kind of exercise programme. While this barrier is amongst the top 5 barriers, I chose to deal with it at the last as it raises many other questions. Solution: The problem itself is the question. Why is it that we lack motivation or discipline for something which is so beneficial for us? We take at least 16 years to complete our education for which we are patient, motivated and disciplined because we know it is good for us. Then we take years and decades to build our career where again we are patient, motivated and disciplined, the reason being it is good for us. Then why is it that we lack motivation or discipline for something like exercise which is equally important as education or career. We come back to the same point that we humans behave irrationally even though we are considered to be the most rational being in the known

universe. Does this again point in the same direction, that we are under an illusion regarding our health and fitness? Although I am tempted to introduce you to this illusion, I am still not sure whether you would be willing to accept the reality because the illusion created is so strong and many may still be blindfolded to the reality. Half way through the book, we are still discussing reasons and excuses to behave irrationally. This only proves we are captivated by the illusion deeper than it seems. But I feel the time has come to introduce you to this, so keep an open mind and give it a serious thought as it may seem unbelievable in the first instance. Ready for it? The illusion created around us is that…. “WEIGHT LOSS IS EVERYTHING !”

Chapter 9 WHAT IS WRONG WITH “IT”?

Why is Weight Loss an Illusion and what's wrong with it? Obesity cannot be fixed by “weight loss” alone! Sounds confusing? Let me try to explain. If one regularly gets a headache and pops painkillers every time, will this resolve the problem? Unfortunately, not! Headache is a symptom and the painkiller “suppresses” it only for it to resurface soon… right? The permanent solution would be to understand the root cause, which could be migraine, continuous exposure to the sun, long gaps between meals etc. Till the root cause is addressed, the headache will keep coming back no matter how many painkillers one takes. Just like headache is a symptom and not the root cause, obesity is also a symptom and not the root cause. While popping in painkillers for the headache, we at least know it's not the permanent treatment and only temporary relief. Hence, at the same time, we also try addressing the root cause. However, when addressing obesity with "weight loss," we are not even aware that it will only "suppress" the symptoms temporarily only for it to resurface soon. We truly feel we are addressing the problem at its root cause… And this is the Illusion !! We have been made to believe so! Now, let us start from the basics and try and understand what we mean by weight. Our body weight primarily consists of the weight of our bones, muscles and fat. We can easily write this as: Total Body Weight = Weight of Bones + Weight of Muscles + Weight of Fat There are other components also such as the weight of the organs etc. but those are negligible and hence, we do not consider it in the above formula. When you first think of "weight", you may not realise that our total body weight consists of good weight and bad weight. The good weight consists of our bones, muscles and even our fat as it is also a very important component of our body structure and plays a vital role in the functioning of our body. It is the "excess fat" which is the bad part of our weight and that is the only part which we should actually target losing. Fats are an important source of energy for our body and also help in the growth of our cells. It functions as a protective shield for many of our organs and helps the body absorb a lot of nutrients. So while fat is essential for our body, the excess fat is the culprit and causes most of the problems. There is very little to explain about the bones and muscles as we all know

how important their role is in our regular body functions. If our bones become weak, then our movement will be restricted and we will have pain in various parts of the body. Muscles are important in every aspect of the body functioning, the primary being that our bones cannot move on their own and it is the muscles which help us to move. If we lose our muscles(%), they will become weaker and the functioning of the entire body will be adversely affected. Let's understand the theory here. When you go for a weight loss programme, what do you think happens? When the whole focus is on weight loss only, and say you lose 10 kgs of weight in a short span of 2 months, you also lose your bone mass% and muscle mass% along with fat, which means that in the process you lose the good part of your weight. Loss in bone% and muscle% actually make you unhealthy in the process.

This is a simple example of how “weight loss” can actually mean “health loss”. Yes, you read it right, weight loss can actually result in health loss if a right programme is not followed. AND THIS IS PROBLEM NO.1 WITH WEIGHT LOSS!

There are some things which are invented for a different motive but later used for other purposes too. For example, explosives were originally invented for the purpose of fireworks, signalling and mining. It was invented by the

Chinese around the 10th century, but today we know how explosives are being used and they even have the capacity to destroy entire mankind. Similarly, in my opinion, weight loss programmes have originally been designed for people who are morbidly obese and suffer from other ailments too. These programmes were meant for people who are 50 to 100+ kgs more than their normal weight and this is more of a medical condition than a lifestyle problem. In such cases, it is not essential to see whether they are losing their bone weight or their muscle weight or fat weight. The most important criteria for them is to first reduce their overall weight and that too rapidly and once they reach close to their normal weight, they can start working upon gaining the right weight and losing the wrong weight. Just like the explosives were later used as weapons, the weight loss programmes are now being used for people who are even slightly overweight. People who are overweight by say 20 or 30 kgs do not fall under the “medical” category but fall under the “lifestyle” category. In my opinion, if the above weight loss formula is applied to such people, then in most cases it will result in “Health Loss”. What we actually need is not a weight loss programme but a “fat loss” programme which focuses on reducing the bad weight, which is the excess fat% and gaining the good weight, which is the bone% and muscle%. Yes, you read it right - a “fat loss” programme is not the same as a “weight loss” programme. In fact, they may be poles apart from each other.

How do I know whether my weight is “normal” or whether I am overweight or obese? The most commonly used index to categorise your weight is called BMI or Body Mass Index. It is a very simple formula and is just a correlation between the height and weight of a person. BMI can be easily calculated by

anyone at home and one doesn’t need to go to an expert or a lab to measure this. The BMI can be calculated as under : The formula is: BMI = (Weight in kilograms) divided by (Height in metres squared) For example, if bodyweight is 72 kilograms and your height is 1.73 metres then, BMI = 72 / (1.73 x 1.73) = 72 / 3 = 24.

So in this example, the person’s BMI is 24 and his/her weight falls under the “Normal” category. The common understanding of most people is that BMI measures “body fat” or “body metabolism”. Actually, it only “tries” to estimate the body fat percentage using only the height and weight of the person. Although this is the most widely used index even till date, it is just an indicative index with a lot of limitations as it does not consider the Age and Gender of the person. Further. It neither considers the bone structure / built of a person nor the muscle percentage and relies only upon height and weight. A well-built person with strong muscles can actually fall under the “obese” category as per BMI when the person might actually be healthy and fit. Similarly, a person who falls under the "normal" category as per BMI, may be lacking enough muscles and hence may have a very high percentage of fat. Such a situation is also called SKINNY FAT, where the person is thin but has a very high-fat percentage. But this cannot be ascertained by the BMI formula. In the following illustration, the BMI of both persons is same and both fall under “obese” category. However, it is clearly visible that one is fit and has a very low-fat percentage compared to the other.

In an earlier chapter on metabolism, we have understood the gigantic importance of muscle mass and its role in the ageing process. In other words, a weight loss programme can lead to a slower metabolism (due to loss of muscle%) and can ultimately speed up the ageing process. The worst part is we aren't even aware of it! In most “weight loss” programmes, body composition (fat and muscle percentage/mass) is not measured when it is pretty simple to measure it. To get a precise measure of body composition, one might have to go to a lab for a complete body scan, but this is more important in case of medical issues and professional athletes. For a common man looking to pursue his/her health and fitness, there are simple ways by which one can measure the body fat%. The accuracy level of such methods would be about 90%, which I feel is reasonable. As already discussed earlier, a simple and inexpensive weighing machine with an additional feature to measure body composition would do the job for a common man like you ‘n’ me. One fine morning I received a call from my friend Hetal, who is a homemaker. She seemed worried and I felt a sense of urgency in her voice. This is how our conversation went : Hetal: “Nishant, I need to be fit! Please help me !” Nishant: “Hold on! What happened?”

Hetal: “I need to be fit. I just realised it! Today the elevator of my building was not working and I had to climb five floors. By the time I reached the 3rd floor, I was gasping for breath and panting as if my heart would pop out of my chest. I am turning 46 next month and I realise that age is not in my favour so now I need to surely get fit. Please help me !” I calmed her down. Nishant: “I assure you it's not too late to start. I am writing you a programme. Just follow this diligently for a month and we would review the situation then." After a month, I received a call from her and the tone was anxious like the first time she had called. She said, "Nishant, I followed whatever you said, but I haven’t lost even a kg !” I was a bit surprised at what she said. I replied, "If I remember correctly, it was about your fitness. How did losing kgs come in the picture?” Hetal: “Isn't it the same and obvious?” Nishant: “First tell me about your issue of panting heavily while climbing floors. How is that?” Hetal: "Oh, that! That is not an issue anymore; I can easily climb the entire five floors and don't even feel out of breath". I rest my case! This is the effect of the "Illusion". We relate everything to weight loss. Whether we lack stamina or even strength, we feel the need for weight loss. If we have pains in our joints, we feel we need weight loss. For every problem, we feel the go-to solution is weight loss. And THIS, MY FRIEND, IS PROBLEM NO. 2 WITH WEIGHT LOSS and this is because of the “Illusion” created around us. Weight is just ONE of the parameters of health and fitness, but the "Illusion" has been created to make us believe that it's the ONLY one!

Like in a school, the student’s overall performance is assessed, based on which the progress report card is prepared. Does the progress report speak only about one subject, say only Maths or only Science? Or do we, as students or as parents, look at any one subject? Or does the school promote the student based on any particular subject? This idea is absurd, right? For example, a student named Ravindran is extremely good in Mathematics and scored 100% marks. Here, seeing the score of one subject, we can only assume he must be an overall good student, but is this information sufficient to know whether he passed in all his subjects? To take a blind call based only on this assumption would be silly. We need to know the “entire” report card before taking a call on his progress. There is a possibility that the student did not fare well in other subjects and was not promoted. Assuming that “losing weight” means we have made progress in our overall health, would be a similar blind call. Just like for overall progress in school we need to consider all the subjects, in health too, we need to check other “subjects”. Health is not limited to weight but other markers such as Body Composition (Fat% and Non-Fat%), Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Balance, Response etc. These are “subjects” that concern the “common man”. There are other “subjects” too such as Speed, Agility, Power etc, which are more applicable to professionals which require a higher level of fitness like in case of athletes or army personnel or even movie stars.

Let us understand these “subjects” one by one and learn how it's important for the overall health and fitness of a common man, like you ‘n’ me. 1. Body composition: The main idea of checking weight is actually to estimate the fat mass in the body. The weight itself doesn't speak much about the health of the person, which is already explained earlier in this chapter. Hence, it is better to check the body composition, i.e. the amount of fat% in the body, directly rather than just estimating it by checking the weight. Based on the fat% one will get an accurate reading of whether he/she falls under normal, overweight or an obese category. 2. Stamina: Physical stamina is the energy that allows you to carry on physical activity for long periods of time. Like in Hetal’s case, her stamina had increased after following a personalised one-month fitness programme. Initially, she couldn't walk up three floors, but after a month, she could easily walk up to five floors. If the stamina has increased, we can say the fitness has improved. Measuring weight alone gives no indication whether the stamina has increased or decreased.

3. Strength: Physical Strength is the ability of a person to work against a load. Say you arrived at the railway station only to see that there were no coolies that day for reasons best known to them. Coincidentally, you haven't even got the bag which has wheels which you could just pull. Unfortunately, now you will have to lift and carry the bag yourself. The bag weighs approximately 15 kgs. Your friend first gives it a try and is unable to lift the heavy bag, so you give him the lighter bag, which weighs 7 kgs that means it weighs less than half of the other bag. You have no difficulty carrying the heavy bag. Hence, it can be said that you have more strength than your friend. Your friend then joins a fitness programme and after some time, in a similar situation, he was able to carry the 15 kg bag. This means his strength has increased. If the strength has increased, we can say the fitness has improved. Measuring weight alone gives no indication whether the strength has increased or decreased.

4. Flexibility: When we tell someone that he/she is flexible, we generally gauge it by seeing if he/she can easily bend and touch the toe. Well, that is one example of being flexible. Similar to bending forward, there is a "Range of Motion" for every joint and muscle. Range of motion means the maximum extent to which the person can stretch a particular joint and muscle. Another example could be twisting the spine and check how far we can twist. The more we can twist, the more flexible we are. Being flexible is very important. It helps us to prevent injuries and cramps and helps to do our day to day activities smoothly. A fitness programme should ensure that the flexibility of the person improves over time. If this happens, we can say that the fitness of the person has improved. Measuring weight alone gives no indication of whether flexibility has increased or decreased. 5. Balance: If you gently push someone and the person stops himself/herself from falling, that is balance. Balance is the ability to stay upright without falling. Balance is required in almost all our day to day activities such as walking or even standing. When we accidentally trip on something, if we can hold ourselves and avoid the fall, it means our balance is good and we have a coordinated control over the movement of our body. Balance becomes more and more important as we age and at a later stage in our lives, it becomes very common to lose our balance. It is, therefore, necessary to start working on our balance from a young age so that we can avoid "falls" at an older age. If the balance of a person has improved, we can say that the fitness of the person has improved. Measuring weight alone gives no indication whether the balance has increased or decreased.

6. Reaction Time: Reaction time is how quickly we respond to a given stimulus. Although we do not measure it, it has a very important role in our day to day lives. For example, in the case of “falls”, If we have a good reaction time, we can find something around us to catch hold of and prevent the fall. Another example could be while crossing the road, if we suddenly see a speeding car coming towards us, how quickly we move away depends upon our reaction time. If the reaction time has improved, we can say that the

fitness of the person has improved. Measuring weight alone gives no indication whether the reaction time of the person has improved or not. These are some basic “subjects” of fitness, which practically we are unaware of. This is because we give so much "weightage" to weight that we feel it is the ONLY measure of fitness. Just like we measure weight, there are simple ways to measure all of these parameters and the same can be done at home itself. After knowing these, I hope you will understand the importance of going through the entire “report” card and not just judge the overall performance by one “subject”. Your fitness progress report must consist of all these parameters and then only one can judge whether there is any progress in your health and fitness. In fact, if the entire focus is on “weight loss” alone, there are high chances that all of these other parameters are being compromised. It's a popular saying that anything which is never measured is never achieved. A typical rapid “weight loss” plan allows less intake of food, which can have an adverse effect on stamina and strength. Since the other parameters are never tested, we are not even aware of our "Health Loss" as a bi-product of "Weight Loss". A perfect example of "Ignorance is Bliss".

It saddens me that no other parameter except weight and BMI is measured in a typical “weight loss” programme even though it does not require any expensive equipment. Is it because this "fuels'' the illusion and helps it become stronger? Is it because if other markers were measured, then it would become crystal clear to us that we are losing our health by doing so and hence its best to keep it under covers? Weight loss for “Good Health” or for “Good Looks”? I got a call from Puja, a 30 year old working woman, enquiring about our fitness programmes. After asking a few general questions, when I asked her about her goal, she replied: "I want to lose weight." This is a very common reply and I always end up asking, “why do you want to lose weight?”. I wasn't surprised when Puja replied, “We have a

wedding in our family and within the next three months and I want to lose 20 Kgs”. Isn't it strange how this illusion colludes with other illusions and kind of traps us from all sides? The other illusion, in this case, is that we have been tricked into thinking that if we're slimmer and well-dressed and have a certain body shape, we're somehow better looking and more successful. This illusion is so strong that people actually become mentally ill. While all mental illnesses may not lead to suicide, it is even more stressful as this thought process kills slowly on a daily basis. When the focus becomes “Good Looks” and not “Good Health” one is willing to go to any extent to get the “Good Looks” even if it is at the cost of health! Whether it is staying without food for a few weeks or taking slimming pills, people resort to any means which can show "quick" results, without even thinking once that this can actually have a long-lasting ill effect on health. On the contrary, we get a feeling that since we are losing weight, we are actually getting healthier. THIS MY FRIEND, IS PROBLEM NO. 3 WITH WEIGHT LOSS! We are willing to do anything to get “those” compliments. We get some weird and extreme sense of satisfaction when we can make our peers jealous of our body. But we forget “All that Glitters is not Gold”. This body can give us only a temporary high for a particular event or a celebration, but later it will all fade away even sooner than we got it as we had somehow temporarily “fixed” the problem from the outside, and did not solve it from its root cause. A simple solution to this is to work towards “Good Health” and then “Good Looks” follows automatically. Unfortunately, the vice versa is not true. Also, is it worth harming yourself for validation from others? We should not compare with others and consider ourselves any less beautiful. We all are beautiful and unique in our own way. Health and Fitness - A Test Match not a T20 Match Are you a kid of the 80s or 90s? If so, you will remember back then, how, to go for a cricket match, it would take days of planning. The excitement of going to the stadium to watch a match was more like going for a picnic. The frenzy to arrange for tickets and listing in detail the food items to be taken was well planned in advance to make the big day special and enjoyable to the fullest. Then of course during the entire five days of the match, how patiently we sat through over after over, inning

after inning. The whole day would pass by watching the classy Sanjay Majrekar and the master himself, Sachin Tendulkar, accumulate runs for India or the ever-charming Kapil Dev bowling his outswingers. I still remember the moment he became the highest wicket-taker in Test Cricket in those times breaking the record of Sir Richard Hadlee. Well, times have changed! We are now in the 2020s and as the number suggests, the style of cricket now popular is 20:20. We now don't have the patience for even a 50 over one day match leave alone the patience and excitement of attending a five-day test match. It's a quick age and we need quick results. That's how our mindset has changed over the past two decades with everything on our fingertips and everything moving at lightning speed. Same is the case with our health and fitness. We want to see quick results and this mindset is being exploited. Everywhere around us we keep hearing or seeing programmes that say “I lost 10 kgs in 1 month” or “I lost 25 Kgs in 3 months”. This only fuels our “quick” mindset and we start believing this is the best way out. The sad news is while our mindset has changed, our physiology and biology haven't. This quick-fix concept in health and fitness does not sustain the “test” of time. Our health and fitness is not a T20 match where we get quick results and we are through. It's not even a one-day match. It's a full-fledged test match where we have to build the innings slowly and keep consolidating and play for the long haul. We all know what happens if a batsman tries to play T20 style cricket in a test match. Today, India fields three different teams for T20, One Day matches and for Test Match cricket. Reason being, a different approach is required in each of the three formats of cricket and hence, players with suitable mindset are chosen for each format. Health and fitness falls under the Test Match category and requires consistency and not necessarily scoring triple hundreds. A surprising statistic is that in almost 90 years of Indian cricket where about 300 players have donned the proud Indian cap, only TWO players have hit a Triple Century till date. A triple century comes once in decades and is not the necessary criteria to win a match. But, both, in test match cricket and in case our health and fitness, scoring fifties and hundreds on a consistent basis is more important. Overnight results exist in neither wealth nor health. Such results can only be seen in gambling where you can win a jackpot and become a millionaire overnight, but chances of such an event are exceptionally low and only one in a million wins the jackpot. The others, apart from this one in a million, lose

their wealth while playing the jackpot. Similar is the case if we expect overnight results with health. Would you like to gamble with your health knowingly, where the probability of losing your health is quite certain? A TYPICAL WEIGHT LOSS PLAN The most sought after and widespread plan for “Weight Loss” is a Diet Plan. While there are also other ways to quick-fix the issue of weight loss such as surgery, cosmetic treatments etc., I am not discussing those here because people who opt for such treatments must be in dire situations like health conditions and they may have no other way out. A “Diet Plan” is the most popular which is adopted by most of us on the path to weight loss. This is a typical structure of any “Diet Plan” though the diets can be named differently. First Step: This stage starts with motivation and excitement and a goal etched in mind. Second Step: At this stage, one realises many food items are restricted and is a strict "NO." Third Step: It is at this stage where one starts feeling “deprived” of the nutrients which have been totally removed from the diet.

Fourth Step: At this stage, the body "craves" for the nutrient that is deprived of. It is a natural phenomenon as the body needs all the nutrients. Fifth Step: Is the stage where one finally "gives" into the craving and ends up eating all that was restricted to fulfil what the body is asking for and hence is back to square one. Sixth Step: Is the stage where “guilt” creeps in - the guilt of not being able to

give 100 per cent to the diet and giving in to the cravings. This also leads to blaming oneself for having weak will power and for redeeming, another promise is made to keep it up the next time. And this is the beginning of a “chakravyuha” (or a maze) - the chakravyuha of “FAD DIETS”, which engulfs you in a never-ending loop and you get lost in this maze for life. You keep going back to the first step only to reach the sixth stage and not knowing how to come out of it. If lucky, an Arjun can get you out of the chakravyuha with his knowledge and wisdom on the subject. He would be the one who could make you understand that FAD DIETS don't work. Once I read a hilarious caption from an organisation, which concurs with my thoughts on the fad diet chakravyuh. It said, “30 Diet Plans to Lose the Same 10 Kgs over and over again!”. It was so apt and mirrored the state of affairs. Most people who believe in these fad diets keep losing and gaining back the same 10 Kgs their entire lives. I initially used to give out freebies to my social media contacts on their birthdays. A freebie is one mentoring session FREE with me. Once a lady named Shabana called me against this offer. She was around 50 years of age and was a banker. While she narrated her health history, she mentioned she has been through the weight loss journey “several times” in the past. I was a bit surprised when I heard “several times” and reconfirmed to make sure I had heard it right. She confirmed saying she had tried everything from Diets to Cosmetic Surgeries, but all in vain as "it all comes back". On one hand, I was sad for her and on the other relieved as I assumed after going through the drill, by now she must have understood that quick weight loss is a farce and does not work. I was happy that she was out of the weight loss chakravyuha. However, my bubble of hope did not last long! And she uttered the words that shocked me, and to my disbelief, the words were "I have called you as I want your help to lose weight, that is my goal". The only thought that occurred in my mind was how deep we are in the claws of this illusion, that even after seeing and experiencing the failures of a "weight loss" programme, we are still captivated by it. The result of this chakravyuh, aka illusion is people are trapped in the never-ending loop of losing and gaining weight all their lives. The diet and weight loss start strong with a loss of 15-30 kgs in a span of three months, but unfortunately, it does not stay like this forever since it uses methods which are not doable and sustainable in the long run. Once the diet is not followed

anymore, we step into the stages mentioned above. The weight comes back just to make us realise we are standing exactly where we began. We might have regained the same amount of weight or even more. And as we are fighting internally with this thought, someone at a social gathering mentions that we have regained a lot of weight and here starts the vicious cycle - the cycle to lose weight again. We may think of trying a “new” fad diet this time, which might be trending and start the six-stage journey again. We actually never got out of the chakravyuha. We are just trapped in it and not even looking for a way out as we are unaware we are caught in one because of the “illusion”. There is a name given to this pattern. It's called YO-YO Dieting. You remember the toy Yo-Yo, which most of us have played with in our childhood. For those who haven't, it's a toy where a small burger-shaped plastic mould is tied to a string and the other part of the string is tied to our finger. What is most interesting is how it operates. You throw the burgershaped toy down and pull it back up. The game is only letting go and pulling it up again. This motion of up and down of the yo-yo is the inspiration behind naming this diet pattern. People are in illusion to such an extent, that to look good for just one social gathering they are ready to go through this yo-yo knowing fully well they might get back all the weight they have lost. Their psychology convinces them that they might succeed in maintaining the lost weight this time and even if they don't, nothing much is lost. Ignorance might be bliss, but it is not healthy for sure. While the person might have come to the "original" weight after one cycle and might feel he/she is back to square one, but in reality, the person is a few steps even behind square number one. Let me explain this in detail. If a person is overweight, it does not necessarily mean that he/she is unhealthy. It is only an indication of how probable a person is to get health problems at some point of time in life. Such a person may be overweight but may be metabolically healthy (meaning the metabolism is good) and the person does not suffer from any lifestyle diseases. However, when such a person goes through one cycle of Yo-Yo dieting, there are high chances that while he/she is back to the same weight, in the process might have become metabolically unhealthy (meaning the metabolism might have weakened).

We have already discussed two points : 1. In most “Weight Loss” programmes, there is also a loss of muscle mass%. 2. Metabolism (or ageing) depends largely on muscle mass% Hence, when a person is in the “lose weight" stage of the yo-yo cycle, he/she is also losing muscle mass% and in the process, his/her metabolism is becoming weak. When the person enters the "gaining weight" stage of the yoyo cycle, the weight that is lost has come back, but muscle mass% does not increase in the same proportion. For muscle mass% to develop, one needs to do proper exercise and follow a good lifestyle, which unfortunately have not been followed. Result being that the weight has been gained back with a higher amount of fat% and a lesser amount of muscle mass%. This ultimately means that the metabolism has been compromised and the person becomes unhealthier than before. Now imagine this process of yo-yo cycle repeating several times. With each cycle, the metabolism is being affected and a relatively healthy body is becoming unhealthier. They unconsciously opened the door to lifestyle diseases. Another flipside of this loop is constant stress and unhappiness throughout the yo-yo cycle. In the initial stages, deprivation of food leads to cravings, which results in frustration and depression. Once the weight starts reducing, few compliments start pouring in and old clothes start fitting. But it only gives a temporary sense of satisfaction and never happiness as there is a constant internal fight with cravings and desires. Once the target weight is achieved, the mind tricks to let go of the “diet” and the stage of giving in to cravings kicks in. Thats when weight gain starts creating constant stress and dissatisfaction.

A question might arise in your mind that why would one gain back the weight and why wouldn’t the person be able to maintain the weight. Let me try to explain with a common example. In case of regular headaches, are the headaches the cause or the symptom and does the pain-killer, you take for immediate relief, “cure” the cause or just “suppress” the symptom? The answer is obvious and the headache will resurface soon. The pill does not address the root cause and the headache keeps coming back no matter how many times you take the pain-killer. In order to cure it permanently, the root cause has to be addressed, which can be some medical condition like migraine or lack of sleep or long gap between meals etc. A weight loss programme is just like the pain-killer in case of a headache. Obesity or weight gain is not the cause but a symptom. So a weight loss programme reduces the weight temporarily only for it to resurface again. If you want a permanent solution to obesity, the root cause has to be addressed, which in most cases is an unhealthy lifestyle, provided there is no underlying medical condition. So a permanent solution to obesity / overweight can be achieved through lifestyle changes or addressing the underlying medical condition (if any). Hence, this chapter started with the caption - “Obesity cannot be fixed by weight loss alone!”.

SUMMARY Before proceeding further, let me summarise the fallacies regarding weight loss that I have been mentioning. A good way to do it would be comparing a “weight loss” programme with a “fat loss” programme.

In the above chart, we can clearly see the extreme damage caused by a weight loss programme, which is generally achieved through crash dieting and improper lifestyle. Such a plan results in decreased fitness, decreased strength, decreased stamina and energy, early ageing and reduced immunity and metabolism - all these are actually against our goals. On the other hand, a well planned fat loss programme focuses on right nutrition and the right lifestyle, which are not only sustainable in the long run but also does not send the body into a craving and depriving mode. The approach is a balance of nutrition and exercise. This reaps long term benefits in terms of improved fitness, greater strength, improved stamina and energy, delayed ageing and reduced risk of diseases with higher immunity and better metabolism - all these are actually our goals! No one loses weight permanently through weight loss programmes and thus when we see pictures of people who are in the “before and after” format, we have to understand that the pictures are not taken a long time apart. The pictures may be shot in a span of 3-6 months, but this does not tell us how they would look or at what weight they would be after 3 years or 6 years. Nine out of 10 such people are engulfed in the loop and are going through the losing and gaining stage over and over again, behaving irrationally due to the illusion they are in. But one of these ten people realises the harmful and dangerous effects of such diets and rightly moves to a fat loss plan, which guarantees good health and does not deprive the body of one’s favourite foods. When the other 9 out of 10 see this one person amongst them losing “weight” in the long run, they can never assume it’s because of a well thought of fat loss plan, which might be slow but promises good health and long-lasting results. The 9 of them again end up following another weight loss plan and stay in the illusion forever, which leads to ill health, physically and mentally.

The one that stepped out with wisdom to opt for a sustainable plan is healthy and happy for a long period of time. To conclude, a weight loss programme is not sustainable and is only shortlived, whereas a fat loss programme is sustainable and doable throughout life. In fact, a weight loss programme is an illusion in itself - it's like a painkiller that suppresses headache but doesn’t address the cause of headache; it's a sleeping pill that puts you off to sleep for that night but doesn’t address the cause of insomnia. A sustainable plan is something which a common man like you ‘n’ me can follow in spite of our work commitments and family responsibilities - which a proper fat loss can give us. The next part of the book is going to discuss how to be High on Energy, High on Immunity and High on Metabolism the actual needs of a common man like you ‘n’ me.

Chapter 10 WHAT IS REALITY?

Weight loss is an illusion, then what is reality? Once there was a farmer who had goats on his farm. He had a section in his farm where he would leave the goats to graze on green plants. One day a goat died and on investigation, the farmer found out that a particular plant had turned poisonous and that killed the goat. So, the farmer plucked all the leaves of that plant so that no other goat could graze on them. After a few days, to his surprise, another goat died for the same reason. It was then that he realised that the real problem, which is the plant itself, still existed and again produced poisonous leaves. The plant had to be plucked away from the root itself for a permanent solution. In the same manner, obesity cannot be addressed only by weight loss. Obesity is like the poisonous leaves, which means it's only the symptom and the root cause is something else, i.e. lifestyle. No matter how many times the farmer plucks all the leaves, they will grow back. Similarly, no matter how many times we lose weight, it will come back until and unless we deal with it at the root level, which is to change our lifestyle. Ok.. so what is Lifestyle? Simply put, lifestyle is a way of life or the way a person lives. The lifestyle of any person is immensely affected by the natural surroundings and the environment. For example, the way a person lives in a village will be totally different from a person who lives in a city. Similarly, the lifestyle of a person living in the hilly areas will be different from a person living in the plains. The natural surroundings, the neighbourhood and the environment, will change a person's choices, preferences, interests, behaviours etc. which makes up the lifestyle of any person. Lifestyle can be of different types pertaining to religion, health, social, political etc. All of these aspects play a role in shaping someone's lifestyle. However, let us only talk about lifestyle in relation to “Health and Fitness” in this book. When it comes to “Health and Fitness”, people feel there are only two kinds of lifestyle, that is living a sedentary lifestyle or being a fitness freak. However, this is absolutely untrue and this misconception is, in fact, a very big reason why most of us are unable to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Many perceive that they have to be a fitness freak to remain healthy and since a common man like you ‘n’ me finds this a herculean task, he/she prefers to take the next default option, that is a sedentary lifestyle. I would like to clear this misconception and give you a whole new perspective about health and

fitness, and how a common man like you ‘n’ me can plan his/her day to be healthy and fit without compromising on work commitments and family responsibilities. Just like in education, there are different stages from elementary to primary to high school to college and then PhD., similar is the case with health and fitness. This book is like a school for “health and fitness" and I am your school teacher. My job is to prepare you for college (of health and fitness). When you start your schooling, you really don't know what subject or stream you would want to specialise later in your education and just study the basics, which works as a foundation. Later, when you complete school, you are in a position to decide which stream you want to opt for. As we keep progressing in our studies from primary school to middle school and high school, we start getting clarity of what we want in life and with the knowledge obtained we can decide on our future course of action.

This book is an attempt to build your foundation on health and fitness and with stories and examples, this book is trying to guide you with the right knowledge as to how you can wisely take your health and fitness journey ahead. This book is not for those who are already at the college level (of health and fitness) or above. Though this book can benefit everyone in some way or the other, it's most beneficial to those who are at the school level or even Montessori level in their health and fitness journey. “EVERY HUMAN BEING IS THE

AUTHOR OF HIS/HER OWN HEALTH OR DISEASE” Asking a person to shift from a sedentary lifestyle to becoming a fitness freak would be equivalent to asking a primary school student to choose the subject in which he or she wants to do a PhD. What do you think would happen in such a situation? It is obvious that this student will get intimidated by the whole concept of PhD and would eventually give up studies thinking it is not his/her cup of tea. In fact, one of the genuine barriers to exercise, which we did not discuss in the chapter of barriers to exercise, is this intimidation that a sedentary person feels who thinks the only option is to become a fitness freak. This happens because most of us are not even aware that there exist many phases in between the two - sedentary lifestyle and fitness freak. A term has been given to this intimidation in the health and fitness industry and is called GYMTIMIDATION. In the education system mentioned above, a student goes through a step by step process from primary school to PhD and that is not intimidating for the student. In the same way, if a person leading a sedentary lifestyle is guided step by step towards the journey of being fit and healthy, there will be no room for any gymtimidation. It's not an overnight jump, like many people assume. The diagram below illustrates the step by step process :

A “Common Man’s” target is to reach the ACTIVE Stage

A common man’s requirement is only to be in the ACTIVE stage and moving ahead to be a fitness freak is completely an individual's choice. Once the person is in the ACTIVE stage, he/she is fulfilling the needs of the body like high energy, high immunity and high metabolism. Thus, after this stage, he/she might be influenced by the benefits of health and pursue further to excel in the field, like becoming a yoga expert or a marathon runner, which again is dependent on one’s choice. The stages mentioned here are similar to going from elementary school to a stage where you have a strong

understanding of what subjects you want to choose for college and then opt for PhD if you really need to. The book guides you to step into the “NonSedentary” stage from a “Sedentary” stage. FAQS relating to lifestyle FAQ#1 Can I afford a Healthy Lifestyle? One of the very big misconceptions of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is that it’s expensive and only going to the gyms or advanced yoga classes is the way out. If only health and fitness is the criteria, it can be easily managed at zero cost. Going to gyms and studios is not a prerequisite for health and fitness, one can go there if he/she enjoys these activities. This book guides a common man to take up health and fitness without involving any extra dayto-day cost. FAQ#2 I run from pillar to post. How do I take out time for a good Lifestyle? This is another myth and in fact, it is one of the important reasons which has inspired me to write this book. This book is meant for the health and fitness of a common man like you ‘n’ me who have family and work commitments and run from pillar to post. How we can efficiently manage our health and fitness, without compromising on our existing commitments, is what this book talks about. FAQ#3 What are some simple tips to a Healthy Lifestyle? Chapter 11 is dedicated to tips to a healthy and fit lifestyle, keeping in mind the needs and commitments of a common man. FAQ#4 How long does it take to build a Healthy Lifestyle? One can successfully transform into a healthy lifestyle within 8-12 weeks. However, a healthy lifestyle does not mean meeting a particular goal in a given time. Neither does it mean that you can start seeing great results during these 8-12 weeks. It is like a seed is sown within this time and if watered consistently, the benefits can be reaped throughout life. Lifestyle is a way of life and building up healthy habits and routine can help reap benefits in the long run. FAQ#5 Once I build a healthy lifestyle, how long do I have to continue? The term lifestyle includes the word “life” in it. Hence a lifestyle is for life. The things to keep in mind is to make it sustainable and not follow a rigorous routine, which is impractical. A good and a healthy lifestyle is easy, practical and respectful for the body. Once the good habits become a part of the

lifestyle, you won’t even realise you are doing anything special. Habit vs Lifestyle Habits are a unit of lifestyle. Collective habits make up a lifestyle. Firstly, there can be Conscious habits and Unconscious habits. Conscious habits: Habits we are conscious and aware of. Like sleeping at a fixed time is a conscious habit or smoking is a conscious habit. Hence, conscious habits can be either good or bad and so will be our lifestyle. Unconscious habits: We may have some habits that we are unaware of like stammering on specific occasions. These are unconscious habits and do not form a part of our lifestyle. Hence, these are outside the purview of this book.

Good habits are synonymous with having a good lifestyle - regular exercise or a simple habit like drinking lemon water first thing in the morning - such habits can lead to a healthy and fit body. We are aware that bad habits are harmful to us and still they become a part of our routine, which leads to a bad lifestyle. We all know smoking and drinking are injurious to health, yet many of us adopt these habits, which in the long run leads to ill health. Bad habits can never provide a good lifestyle. Habits are the building blocks of lifestyle. When we speak about habits, there is a theory that any routine or change followed for 21 days becomes a habit and done for 90 days becomes our lifestyle. This is also called the 21/90 rule. If we are following any habit that might be unhealthy and we want to change it - like changing the habit of having tea first thing in the morning to lukewarm lemon water - initial seven days might be difficult, but once we can persevere for 21 days, it becomes a habit and then it doesn't take much effort to make it a lifestyle by following it for 90 days. It is advisable not to try changing many habits at once as it becomes unsustainable. We need to pick up one habit, change it and then move to another. Slow and steady, as we all know, have more chances of reaching the finishing line. This is how we can take up small good habits at a time and build up a good and healthy lifestyle over a period of time, that too effortlessly. Just like you build a

house brick by brick and before you realise your house is ready, the same is the story with habits and lifestyle. They say HABIT dies hard. Once we make something a HABIT, even if H goes away, A BIT remains, Even if A goes away, BIT remains And even if B goes away, IT still remains !! Lifestyle Diseases Lifestyle diseases primarily include heart disease, type 2 diabetes or any disease that may be associated with bad habits such as alcohol, smoking or drug abuse or even bad eating habits. As the name suggests, the underlying cause of these diseases is a bad lifestyle. Many of these diseases have been already discussed in Chapter 7, where we have also mentioned how they can be altered by exercise and a healthy lifestyle. Once a 54 year old man named Prabhakar, a lawyer by profession, came for consultation for taking up a health and fitness program. As usual after taking all the details when we came to the topic of existing lifestyle diseases, he mentioned he had hypertension (High Blood Pressure), but now it is under control. The obvious follow-up question from my side was how did he manage to bring back hypertension within limits. The reply that came was disheartening but not surprising. He said, "I am taking regular medicines and hence hypertension is under control”. It is not surprising because this is not the first time I had heard this and it is disheartening because people feel that if their medical parameters are within limits by taking medicines, their disease is “under control” and they are healthy. This brings us to the topic of medicine. Do medicines cure Lifestyle Diseases? A simple analysis will answer this. My next question to Prabhakar ji was, "Since how many years are you taking medicine?" to which he replied "15 years!”. Again, this is not a surprising answer and it's a common phenomenon. In fact, this period can go up to 20 or 30 years too and same is the case with all other lifestyle diseases and not only hypertension. At this juncture, it is important to talk about diseases in general. Diseases

are primarily of two types - one is Infectious Diseases and other is Lifestyle Diseases. Infectious diseases are those which are external to us, which comes due to some external factor, such as malaria or dengue caused by a mosquito bite or diseases like polio or chickenpox etc. We need to take proper medication to cure these diseases. Lifestyle diseases, on the other hand, are those which are internal to us and the root cause is our lifestyle. The biggest problem today is that we are dealing with lifestyle diseases as if they are infectious diseases, i.e. by medication. From the above example of Prabhakar ji, one point is clear that medicines do not "cure" lifestyle diseases; otherwise, why would one need to continue for 15, 20 or 30 years! Let us consider the case of fracture. When we fracture any of our bones or joints, there is a treatment for a limited period of time, which can be a few weeks or a few months depending upon the level of the fracture. But once this period is over, the fracture has been “treated” or “cured” and medicine is not required thereafter. In the case of lifestyle diseases, these medicines can only "suppress" the symptoms and not cure the disease and hence, they have to be taken lifelong. My next question to Prabhakar ji was, “Has the dose of these medicines been the same all throughout these fifteen years?” to which he replied “No! Earlier I used to take one tablet in a day; now I am taking twice daily". This is again not surprising but a common phenomenon. The dosage of the lifestyle diseases only increases with time because the disease inside is not getting “cured”. The magnitude of the disease keeps increasing over time since they are not treated from the root cause and hence the dosage also has to be increased to keep the increasing symptoms “suppressed”. This is again similar to the story of the farmer plucking leaves when the goat died. But the leaves would come back and maybe more in number, killing another goat. Relying completely on medicines for your lifestyle diseases would be like plucking the leaves again and again. If the disease has to be cured, it has to be done by improving the lifestyle, that is addressing the problem at the root cause, or in other words to remove the poisonous plant from its root and throw it away. Having said this, I do not recommend ignoring medicines altogether if they have been prescribed by the doctor. It is a combination of both lifestyle and medicine that would help you to either reverse the disease or keep it under check and prevent it from progressing further. Once the lifestyle disease starts reversing, the dosage of the medicines can be gradually reduced and in many cases, it can even be

stopped completely. Yes! You read it right. Lifestyle diseases can even be reversed completely in many cases if a proper program is followed. Although, the popular thinking is that if once anyone is diagnosed with any lifestyle disease, he/she has to live with it for life. But we need to understand that these are Life’style’ diseases and not Life’long’ diseases and can be altered by altering lifestyle.

Having said that lifestyle diseases could be reversed in many cases, one should not wait till the onset of such diseases and not in all cases can they be completely reversed. "Prevention is better than Cure", is not just a saying and if followed in spirit, can change the course of our health throughout our life. A healthy lifestyle, if pursued from an early age, can either delay or even prevent the onset of lifestyle diseases. Medicine is promoted as “Health Care”. At this juncture, I would like to leave you with a thoughtWhen is medicine required? When we are Healthy or when we are Sick? Then shouldn’t’ it be called “Sick Care”? “But what about genetic diseases !! I am from a diabetic family where my mother and father are both diabetic, so how can I escape from this disease and medicines !” This was the response of Harmeet, a 34 year old industrialist, when I tried explaining to him what we just discussed above. I then tried to further explain him with this story : Consider your genes as a Lion. If you come face to face with this lion in a jungle, probably the lion will pounce on you and will kill you. However, if you come face to face with the same lion in a zoo where the area of the lion is well cordoned and guarded, the lion won't be able to harm you. Moral of the story is that the lion is the genes on which you have no control, but the environment you give to the lion, i.e. the jungle or the

zoo, is totally under your control and that is a lifestyle. Of course, there is always a risk of the lion breaking out of the boundaries of the zoo and hence you will always have to be on guard and keep this boundary wellguarded with constant watch and supervision. Hence, there are two factors that determine the extent of Lifestyle Diseases - Genes and Lifestyle. Let's try and understand, which is more important and how.

In the above study, called Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, a healthy lifestyle cut the number of events in half among those at high genetic risk. The study was conducted by New England Medical Journal in 2017. Atherosclerosis is a type of Heart Disease.

The above bar chart explains how the two factors - Genetics and Lifestyle affect lifestyle diseases. On one axis, we have the "Overall Risk" of diseases and on the other, three different levels of Genes and Lifestyle have been taken. In the case of lifestyle, they are - Favourable (Healthy) Lifestyle, Intermediate Lifestyle and Unfavourable (Unhealthy) Lifestyle. In the case of Genes, they are - Low Genetic Risk, Intermediate Genetic Risk and High Genetic Risk. From the graph we get the two extremes - Lowest Overall Risk (3.1) is when there is “Low Genetic Risk” + “Favourable Lifestyle” and the Highest Overall Risk (10.7) is when there is “High Genetic Risk” + “Unfavourable Lifestyle”. However, the interesting point is to note that when the genetic risk is “High” but lifestyle is “Favourable”, the overall risk is 5.1, which is lower than the overall risk of 5.8 when a genetic risk is "Low" but lifestyle is “Unfavourable”. Thus, even with low genetic risk, your overall risk increases if the lifestyle is not healthy and even with the high genetic risk, you can reduce your overall risk by following a healthy lifestyle. This corroborates with the lion story - that even if you have a lion (high genetic

risk), if the lion is well guarded in a zoo (healthy lifestyle), the overall risk is less. This is the power of lifestyle! To people like Prabhakar and Harmeet, I would want them to think deeply and make a choice between the two : A. Make “Lifestyle” your Medicine OR B. Make “Medicine” your Lifestyle “We understand what you are saying and want to start building a Healthy Lifestyle by taking up good habits. But how and where to start! Exactly what we should do so that we are successful in the task?”. These are obvious doubts that come up after I have had my first mentoring session with people. I am sure the same questions must have also popped up in your mind. Let me make things easy and explain in simpler terms what is Healthy Lifestyle when it comes to health and fitness.

Four Pillars of a Healthy Lifestyle

As the diagram illustrates, a healthy lifestyle has four pillars. Most of us know about exercise and nutrition, but activity and rest are equally important. Once we understand each of these components, it will be easier for us to start our health and fitness journey. In fact, these four pillars can also be compared to four wheels of a car. We know each wheel is important for the car to move smoothly. Even if one of the tyres are flat, the car (health and fitness) cannot move or can lead to an accident (disease and ailments).

ACTIVITY What is Activity? Activity is actually any movement we do, whether it's brushing our teeth or running a marathon. Any physical movement will qualify as an activity. However, when it comes to health and fitness, we need to assess our level of activity throughout the day on a regular basis. Modern and urban lifestyle has its peril and has adversely affected our activity levels. A usual day in our life would be something like this - as soon as we wake up we rush to the toilet (seated), then we have our breakfast (seated), then we travel to office (seated in a car or any form of public transport), then in the office we are seated throughout, lunch (seated), travel back home (seated), dinner (seated), watching TV (seated) till we get to sleep. At most, there might be one hour of either a walk or any other form of exercise. On average, we spend 15 hours sitting throughout the day. This is the lifestyle most of us have. This I say, is the cost of becoming rich - as soon as we become rich, we hire someone to do all our work and hence we stop all our movements and become inactive. Lack of activity has the most significant effect on our lifestyle. It hits all the three goals that we, as a common man, are looking for - High Energy, High Immunity and High Metabolism. It's a silent killer and we are not even aware of it. If our job requires long hours of sitting, then we must make conscious efforts to maintain the level of activity. The next chapter deals with how one can maintain the right level of activity. EXERCISE Most people confuse between Activity and Exercise. They feel if they exercise daily, their quota of physical activity is complete or if they have a high level of activity throughout the day, they feel they don't need to exercise. However, for a good and healthy lifestyle, we need both - Activity and Exercise. How is exercise different from activity? Any activity done in a planned, structured and repetitive manner becomes an exercise. Further, the intention behind the activity should be fitness. Additionally, the physical limits should be stretched beyond normal - either our heart rate should increase beyond normal (cardio) or our muscles should be stressed (strength training) or our joints should be stretched beyond normal (flexibility). Let’s go back to the example, where one had to carry his/her own luggage weighing 15 Kg due to strike of coolies. Here, the physical limits are being

stretched. But since it is not done in a planned and structured manner and neither the intention is fitness, it won't qualify as exercise and will remain an activity. This means every exercise is an activity, but every activity is not an exercise. The benefits and importance of exercise have already been elaborated earlier and one must make it a part of his/her lifestyle. One common question that I face is – “from where to start?” and my answer is simple – “start from start!”. Next chapter will give tips on how to start and the sequel to this book will discuss in detail about how one can take exercise to the next level. NUTRITION This is the most talked about topic under lifestyle and probably the most misunderstood. Two words "Diet" and "Nutrition" go hand in hand. While the technical and dictionary meaning might be different, in common parlance “Diet” is used for an eating plan which is very strict, where one has to follow the exact time of having food throughout the day, precisely measured portions of each meal and where some of the nutrients (like carbs or fat) have been curbed/removed from the plan. “Nutrition” on the other hand is a more holistic approach to eating, where the focus is to nurture the body with good and healthy food with no “strict” rules and regulations to be followed. The main goal is an overall health plan. No particular nutrient or food item is left out and one can balance the eating pattern with nutritious food as well as some “happy meals” to avoid the sense of deprivation and craving. Such negative feelings adversely affect our mind and create an environment of “stress”, which is unhealthy for us. The focus in a “Nutrition” plan is to develop good habits.

“What is the best Diet?”. This is a question I come across on a daily basis. No doubt, food plays a very significant role in our health and fitness, but an obsession with "diet" only causes us more harm than good. The simple logic is that humans are not a new specie and have survived and evolved through

millions of years. Our intelligence level has only increased over the years so I can easily assume that evolution has been in the positive direction. Has this happened without food? Or were there some “special diets” in those times? So why is it that today we are looking for some fancy or magic "diet" that will do wonders for us? The only reason is that we have moved away from our roots towards a so-called “modern” lifestyle. The rise of lifestyle diseases has risen dramatically in the last two to three decades. The concept of “processed” food and “fast” food have made us unhealthy. Nutrition is a vast subject, but a common man need not go into those details. It is best for us to move back to our cultural food habits, which will give us tremendous results. The power lies in simplicity and we still look for complex solutions. If we follow a basic nutrition plan, which anyone can afford and doesn't need to have any fancy or imported items, our health and fitness needs will be taken care of. The following simple tips may be noted for healthy nutrition : 1. Stick to cultural and traditional eating habits 2. Have local and seasonal fruits and vegetables 3. Eliminate / Minimise processed and refined food, especially refined grains, refined sugar and refined oil. 4. Try to finish dinner by sunset or within an hour of sunset (an age-old practice) Is Intermittent Fasting a new fad? Well, the name is new, but the practice is age-old and recommended by most of the Indian cultures. The simple concept of finishing dinner by sunset, in other terms, means intermittent fasting of twelve hours. If the last meal of the day is at sunset (say 6 to 7 pm), a person will not intake any food item before 6 to 7 am on the next day, which itself means a gap of twelve hours between the last meal of the day and the first intake of the next day. While there are claims of immense benefits of intermittent fasting up to 16 hours or more, I am of the opinion to stick to 12 hours in the beginning as 16 hours may not be possible/practical for many and may cause discomfort. For the beginners, a twelve-hour window is good enough, and once you cross the "school stage" of health and fitness, you will be in a position to decide for yourself how you want to proceed on this.

REST This is the least talked about component as well as the most underrated. In fact, its significance is actually more than the other components. Rest, here, is used in a broad sense and covers many aspects such as sleep, mental health, spiritual health and emotional health. For starters, sleep is the best thing to focus upon. We neglect sleep, especially in our career-building years, thinking it's a "waste of time". Working late till 3 am and waking up again at 6 am to complete some project, is a common sight. We do not realise the damage we are doing to ourselves and even before we realise our body is home to lifestyle diseases like heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes etc. We spend one-third of our lives sleeping. That's how the Divine has made us. Then doesn't it make sense to do it right? There must be a purpose why we are made this way. If we interfere with the natural phenomenon, looking for success, career, money etc. we have to pay the price some day. The most important function that the body performs during sleep is repairing and cleansing. Our body has a limited source of energy and it is allocated to different functions at different times. During the day, the body is physically active and hence, all the energy is diverted towards it. During this time, the body cannot repair or cleanse. It is during our sleep when there is no other activity that the body allocates all its energy to repair and cleansing. If you do not sleep for four days, you start hallucinating and if you do not sleep for eleven days, you may die! Imagine you never clean your house. Wouldn't it become dirty and unhygienic over a period of time and ultimately become the centre of diseases? Similar is the story with your body. If you do not clean it daily, then it will become a house to all the diseases. The cells in the body are not getting repaired and the toxins being collected on a daily basis are not being cleansed from the body. These toxins accumulate over a period of time and

take the shape of various lifestyle diseases. In other words, your immunity and metabolism are highly compromised. Ensuring good sleep will ensure you are always energetic, high on immunity and metabolism - the goals of a common man!

Chapter 11 THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION

o you recollect waking up just a few minutes or even seconds before the alarm clock starts shrieking on a day when you have to catch an early morning train or flight or the day when you need to get up early to prepare for a family function? How do you think it happens? It's our Body Clock, which does this and it is a very sophisticated system in our brain that actually makes our body just like a super fine-tuned machine. It controls our sleep and wakeup cycle, our body temperature and sense of time. It releases various hormones based on the “time of the day” to either make us alert (like in the mornings) or relaxed (closer to our sleep time). The most important input that our body clock is responsive to is “Lighting”. In fact, a similar system exists in every living creature and this is what guides each of them when to wake up, eat and sleep. This is also called the Circadian Rhythm, which is a cycle of 24 hours linked to the movement of the Sun. The more “predictable" our routine is, the better our Body Clock can function. In other words, the more our routine is fixed, the healthier and happier we shall be. When the body knows the exact time of our eating and sleeping, it can prepare itself in advance and "plan" the entire day's activities (when to release different hormones, when to repair, when to cleanse etc.) and hence can perform them much more effectively, which will be half the job done as far as our health and fitness is concerned. Just imagine a situation where the departure time is not mentioned in the train or flight ticket you have booked. You would be confused at what time to wake up, what time to leave from the house and what time to reach the airport/station, isn't it? Similarly, your body clock stays confused if you do not have a "scheduled" time of performing your activities, especially eating and sleeping. It would not know when to start releasing different hormones for different activities. When you do not know the departure time, you would either miss your flight or would have to wait for hours at the airport not knowing when the flight would take off. Both cases are not desirable and lead to inefficiency and stress. Similar is the status of our internal body clock. Our body is the most sophisticated piece of machinery under the Sun, but we should allow it to perform its functions to get results. We interfere with the body’s functioning by waking up when it's time to sleep and vice-versa or by eating when it's time to digest and vice-versa. This is a peril of the modern lifestyle and one of the biggest contributors to our ailments. The most important point to be noted is that a modern lifestyle is a hindrance to the body in performing its functions. Keeping this in mind,

D

“things to do” are recommended in this book. We will follow the “clock” to start the health and fitness journey. As explained in an earlier chapter, there are various stages in the health and fitness journey and the “plan of action” currently is to move into the first stage, i.e. from a “Sedentary Lifestyle” to a “Non-Sedentary Lifestyle”. The sequel of this book will then guide you to move from a “Non-Sedentary Lifestyle” to an “Active Lifestyle”.

After having discussed the importance of the Body Clock, it's ideal for letting the clock (1 to 12) guide us to Healthy Living. The approach is to build "habits", which are the building blocks of a Healthy Lifestyle. For every number in the clock, there is a habit. We shall take up one habit at a time, make it a part of the system and move to the next. Each habit is “doable” and before we even realise, it becomes a part of our lifestyle, i.e. its “sustainable” - the two keywords for anything which we want to do for life.

Introducing the “Healthy Living Clock”

WEEK 1 : ACTIVITY The importance of activity has already been discussed and it's the first building block to a healthy lifestyle, which ensures you to move from the "Sedentary" to the "Non-Sedentary Stage". Firstly, download any "Pedometer" app on the mobile to count the daily steps. Do not forget to add a "widget" of the count on your home screen. This way, you will know the count whenever you use the phone for any purpose and will help you achieve your target easily. One can even buy a fitness or health band to keep track of this; however, a free mobile app is good enough. The target is to reach 9-10 thousand steps in a day.

Week 1 : Introduction to Steps

WEEK 2 : FIXED DINNER TIME In the beginning of this chapter, we have laid the emphasis on the importance of fixed time for our eating. This week's target is to inculcate this habit. Decide your time of dinner, as per your convenience, but maintain it on a daily basis. Currently, we are not going into the “best” time for having dinner, which can be taken up at a later stage. At this stage, we are focusing only to maintain the same time of dinner to give a boost to your body clock. In addition to maintaining the same time of dinner, it is also important to fix the time you take your first food item in the morning. The first food item is anything apart from water and not necessarily your breakfast. For example, if you take lemon water in the morning, even that would count as "food" in this case. Let both the time digit match, i.e. if you decide to have dinner at 8 p.m. then let the first food of the next morning be at 8 a.m., hence maintain a 12hour gap.

Week 2 : Introduction to Intermittent Fasting

WEEK 3 : EXERCISE Importance of exercise has been already explained in detail. I personally always recommend walking as the best exercise to start with. It does not require any skill, no infrastructure except shoes, no recurring cost and can be done anywhere and anytime. Again, like all other activities, having a fixed time for exercise will give much better results than doing the exercise at erratic times. Further, at this stage, it is not important to focus on "intensity", but it is more important to do it "consistently". We can focus on intensity in the next stage and convert walk to a brisk walk. For now, my recommendation is to start with a 20-minute walk on a daily basis (5 to 6 days a week) and graduate to 30 minutes per day in a week or two.

Week 3 : Introduction to Walking

WEEK 4 : FIXED SLEEPING TIME It is said that we require 7 to 8 hours of sleep to have a healthy lifestyle. However, this is just a number and the actual requirement varies from person to person and also varies for the same person at different ages. The hours that one requires is decided by the body itself as long the body is allowed to do its job. By maintaining a fixed time of sleeping, you can help your body to do its job efficiently and when you wake up without any alarm each day (mostly it will be at the same time if a fixed routine is followed), you can be sure that you have slept the required amount of hours. This is generally between 5 to 8 hours and varies from person to person. You have to find out what your number is! How? Just listen to your body and you will know.

Tip : In case you find it difficult to fall asleep at the same time, ensure you maintain the same waking up time until your body clock gets used to the new routine.

Week 4 : Introduction to Fixed Sleeping Time

SUMMARY : FOUR HABITS TO START WITH Currently, we are focusing on developing four habits. These will be the "foundation" of the house called lifestyle, which we are trying to build. They are summarised as under:

Making them a part of your lifestyle will do wonders for your health. You will start feeling energetic and overall healthy and happy. If you are facing other issues like lethargy, constipation or body pains, etc., you will definitely see an improvement. Once you have successfully made these FOUR habits a part of your lifestyle, you are ready to move on to the next stage, which will be discussed in the sequel to this book. We will discuss the remaining numbers of the clock, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 11 in that book. It will also guide us with FOUR more doable and sustainable habits and shall take us from a “Non-Sedentary” stage to an “Active” stage. Further, these four habits should not only be looked as preparatory work for the next stage, i.e. the Active stage. For some reason even if you are unable to move on to the next stage, these four simple habits will still go a long way in improving your health and fitness.

Chapter 12 FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE

This scene of 3 Idiots is my favourite and I can never let it out of my mind. Professor: “What is a Machine?” Rancho: “Anything that reduces human effort. Garmi lag rahi hai? Button dabaya! Hawa Chalu! Fan! Machine hair Sir (Feeling hot? Put the switch on ! The fan starts ! It's a machine, Sir)" The Professor throws a piece of chalk that hits Rancho on the face. "Definition kya hai? (What is the definition?)”, asks the Professor angrily. Rancho: “Wohi toh bataya Sir (Sir, that's what I just said)” The Professor is annoyed and asks if anyone else can answer! Chatur: “Sir, machines are any combination of bodies so connected that their relative motions are constrained and by which means, force and motion may be transmitted and modified as a screw and its nut, or a level arranged to turn about a fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc. especially a construction more or less complex consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements as wheels, levers, cams etc." Professor being highly impressed: “Kya baat hai! (Wow!)” Incidents such happen that Rancho is asked to leave the class and just as he had stepped out of the class, he stepped back in, to which the Professor asks, "Arre! Tum waapis kyon aa gaye? (Why are you back?)". Rancho replies he has forgotten something and when the Professor asks, “What?”, Rancho says : "Instruments that record, analyse, summarise, organise, debate and explain information that are illustrated, non-illustrated, hard-bound, paperback, jacketed, non-jacketed, with foreword, introduction, table of contents, index that are intended for the enlightenment, understanding, enrichment, enhancement and education of the human brain through the sensory route of vision, sometimes touch." The entire class and the Professor has no clue as to what Rancho is saying and in a frustrated mood, the Professor asks, "Arre! Kehna kya chaahte ho? (What do you mean?)”. Rancho: “Books, Sir. Can I take them?” Professor: “Toh seedha seedha nahi kah sakte the? (Couldn't you ask simply?)” Rancho: “Thodi der pehle koshish ki thi Sir, lekin aapko seedha seeddha pasand nahi aaya! (I tried earlier Sir, but you didn't like it!)” The entire class burst out in laughter and the Professor got the taste of his own blood.

This scene is an eye-opener for all of us. When looking for solutions, we are attracted to complex and complicated solutions. When we get one, we feel “this is THE solution we were looking for”. Little do we realise that more complicated the solution is, lesser are the chances of us implementing them. The real power lies in simplicity. However, for some reason, the human brain does not easily accept easy solutions, thinking it's "too simple to be true". Similarly, you may get a feeling that the tasks mentioned in this book towards starting your health and fitness journey are too simple and you already knew about them. But ask yourself, were you following them? Trust the simplicity, follow it for three months and then you can judge for yourself. Once you have been able to inculcate these four habits or you are already following them, you are ready for the next phase, which is discussed in the sequel to this book. Best wishes to you for your journey … believe me; this would be the best journey you have ever embarked upon!

REFERENCES

1. www.medium.com 2. www.wikipedia.com 3. www.pennmedicine.org 4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Type-2-diabetes-46of-patients-in-India-are-under-40/articleshow/55403707.cms 5. www.blueprintincome.com 6. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/global-diabetes/diabetes-inindia.html#:~:text=Over%2030%20million%20have%20now,cent%20of%20the%20total% 7. Semlitsch T, Jeitler K, Berghold A, Horvath K, Posch N, Poggenburg S, Siebenhofer A (March 2016) - “Long-term effects of weight-reducing diets in people with hypertension”. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3: CD008274. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008274.pub3. PMC 7154764. PMID 26934541.)] 8. https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/exercise-linked-with-lower-risk-of-13types-of-cancer.html) 9. World Health Organisation Website 10. New England Journal of Medicine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born and brought up in the City of Joy (Kolkata), the author is a Gold Medalist in Business Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. An established industrialist since the past two decades, he is also a TEDx speaker. He started his Health and Fitness journey in 2008 at the age of 32 and that’s when he found his hidden passion for not only pursuing his own fitness but also inspiring others to take up health and fitness. He later did his certifications in fitness training and finally launched a fitness venture by the name Fitamins in 2017. Since then he has helped hundreds of people directly through his services and also influenced thousands through the philanthropic division of Fitamins, which conducts honorary seminars and workshops to spread awareness on health and fitness. Nishant is a proud single parent to his fifteen year old son and his vision is to touch one crore lives by 2022

ABOUT THE BOOK The book deals with the health and fitness requirements of a “common man”, like you ‘n’ me. By common, I do not mean ordinary by any means! As far as health and fitness are concerned, a common man is anyone whose profession does not demand a high level of fitness like in the case of movie stars or sports personalities. The health and fitness requirements of a common man are different. We are bound by work commitments on one hand and family responsibilities on the other. We need to take care of our health and fitness without compromising on any front, be it work or family. This book deals exactly with this situation and guides the “common man” how to step into the most beautiful journey … the journey of good health and happiness.

LET’S CONNECT Do you believe in the saying… “If you want to walk fast, walk alone If you want to walk far, walk together”? If yes, then do join our community where we encourage each other to take up health and fitness as well as pursue it for life. We also address queries related to health and fitness. If “we” replaces “I”, then even “Illness” becomes “Wellness”. Join us using the link : Fb.com/groups/ffynm

Download all the resources that come with this book using the link: www.nishantbhalotia.com/ffynm

You can download: 1. Worksheets for “The Body Clock – Plan of Action” 2. Answers to FitaQuiz 3. A Sample Diet Chart Connect directly with the Author: Email : [email protected] Fb : fb.com/nishant.bhalotia Fb : fb.com/holisticfitnesscoach

A Typical Fat Loss Plan Fallacies of BMI THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION FITNESS FOR YOU ‘N’ ME THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION THE BODY CLOCK - PLAN OF ACTION