Today, I want to disclose a very simple and yet powerful technique which is already been well established and is followed by majority of the people. This is for those who are interested in their vibrant health & wellness. These are the 8 laws for our radiant living. These are the principles which brings a NEWSTART in our life for dealing any of the health conditions successfully. Let me make it simple for you by expanding the acronym NEWSTART which makes it easier to remember.
NEWSTART stands for:
Nutrition
Exercise
Water
Sunshine
Temperance
Air
Rest
Trust In God.
Nutrition: A proper diet is very important part of our health. It provides the building blocks for growth and repair, and fuel for energy. We should have a balance diet which includes the proper mix of basic components such as Carbohydrates, Proteins, Vitamins, Fiber. etc. Basically, eat more vegetables, fresh fruits, pulses, legumes & grains by limiting fat, sugar & salt. Always remember to eat a good breakfast, a moderate lunch & a light dinner.
Exercise: Doing regular exercise enhances proper blood circulation, which in turn improves memory and mental ability and promotes better sleep and faster healing. It helps one to reach and maintain proper weight. It burns calories, builds muscle, and increases the metabolism. Always start with a warm up then include few stretching exercises along with abdomen crunches.
Water: Drink Drink plenty of water. Its used as a cleansing agent not only outside but also inside the body. A glass of water acts as a bath for the digestive system, cleansing and refreshing it.
Sunlight: You may be surprise to hear that Sunshine is also part of healthy life.The impression has been given that even small amounts of sun are harmful. But sunshine in moderate amounts has many benefits. Sunlight kills many germs and enhances the immune system. At least ten minutes of sunlight per day is necessary to maintain good health.
Temperance: The word temperance, when used in the context of health, has three very distinct meanings: moderation in the use of that which is good, total abstinence from that which is harmful, and self-restraint. Anything done in extreme is always harmful. Anything that harms the body is counterproductive to good health. Do not use tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or caffeinated drinks.
Air: Air is the vital element for the human life. One can stay without food or water for many days but anyone deprived of air will die within minutes.So, air out your house everyday. Keep proper ventilation in mind wherever you are. Also do Breathing exercises like pranayama or other techniques to clear the mind and increase the energy level. According to me Air is the king of one's life
Rest: Its important for a man to get the right quantity as well as quality sleep everyday. This is when the body grows, repairs damage, and restores energy, preparing itself for another day of activity. Because, when the body is deprived of sleep, it is unable to rebuild and recharge itself adequately.
Trust in God: Research has shown that spirituality helps to control stress, strengthen the immune system, and protect against heart disease and cancer. Beyond these scientifically verifiable benefits, God promises eternal life to those who trust Him—a life of perfect health and freedom from pain, fear, and death.
In conclusion, I would like to add few lines for a successful lifestyle. "You sow a thought, you reap an action. Sow an action, you reap a habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap your destiny". A life is meaningful only when its virtuous. Time is money but Health is wealth.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Mommy's quick & soft cookie
Ingredients:
1 cup Cashews
1 cup shredded coconut (preferably fresh)
1/2 spoon cardamom powder
4 to 5 spoons of honey
8 spoons grated desiccated coconut (Kobbari)
Preparation time:
5 to 8 minutes
Method:
1. Grind separately - cashews & fresh coconut in a blender.
2. Mix cashew powder, coconut powder, cardamom powder & honey in a bowl.
3. Make small cookies out of this mixture.
4. Now, roll them on the dry coconut & its ready to be savored.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
modus operandi
Its been a long day! This is the phrase being used by me almost everyday in recent years. It makes me wonder where did all my hours of the day run by - is it hidden inside the clock or is it just that God stingily created 24hours a day so at least in this way to make the humankind work hard within a day? In any case, God didn't do any kind of fondness or partiality to any particular sect of life forms in the universe. Thankfully, he has afforded everyone to spend luxuriously 24hrs a day. It lies down with the individual how luxuriously to deplete them. I just ran down my simple maths to check how I consume my day.
Here are my number of hours from Monday to Friday excluding the weekends. Weekends are meant only for shopping :)
Total Number of weekdays - 5 days
Number of hours for a day - 24hrs
Total number of hours = 5 * 24 = 120hrs
Number of hours spent for office work each day which includes bathing, commute & at office = 12hrs
Total number of hours for office related work = 5 * 12 = 60hrs
Number of hours consumed in sleep each day = 9hrs
Total number of hours spend just in sleeping = 5 * 9 = 45hrs
Number of hours spent in cooking & eating each day = 2hrs
Total number of hours spend in cooking = 5 * 2 = 10hrs
Total number of hours remaining in my work week = 120 - 60 - 45 - 10 = 5hrs
Holy cow!! its just 5hrs.....this means left with just an hour end of each day. Now, this puts me under lots of pressure, how to invest this so-to-be very precious hour - Do I need to relax & watch some favorite soap operas on TV or do I need to take this as a quality time to spend with the family or should I keep thinking how to spend this hour or should I use it up on my self-grooming.The list goes on. Hmmmm....I guess I ran out of this hour for today as I already used it up on this blog :)
The only solution is to cut down the hours from the other categories listed above & hence redistribute to what I wanted do which is the actual hardest part of my life. Finally, what I want to say is that I am caught in this rat race & this has become my conventional life style.
I am sure I want to change this routine and I believe in the saying that change is the only constant in world. Let me explore and experiment with either new or existing strategies to have a better and happy life. I will certainly share those tips after I am done with my research in my future blogs. Self-Control is the mastery achieved only through rigorous will power. This is inherently recursive!
Here are my number of hours from Monday to Friday excluding the weekends. Weekends are meant only for shopping :)
Total Number of weekdays - 5 days
Number of hours for a day - 24hrs
Total number of hours = 5 * 24 = 120hrs
Number of hours spent for office work each day which includes bathing, commute & at office = 12hrs
Total number of hours for office related work = 5 * 12 = 60hrs
Number of hours consumed in sleep each day = 9hrs
Total number of hours spend just in sleeping = 5 * 9 = 45hrs
Number of hours spent in cooking & eating each day = 2hrs
Total number of hours spend in cooking = 5 * 2 = 10hrs
Total number of hours remaining in my work week = 120 - 60 - 45 - 10 = 5hrs
Holy cow!! its just 5hrs.....this means left with just an hour end of each day. Now, this puts me under lots of pressure, how to invest this so-to-be very precious hour - Do I need to relax & watch some favorite soap operas on TV or do I need to take this as a quality time to spend with the family or should I keep thinking how to spend this hour or should I use it up on my self-grooming.The list goes on. Hmmmm....I guess I ran out of this hour for today as I already used it up on this blog :)
The only solution is to cut down the hours from the other categories listed above & hence redistribute to what I wanted do which is the actual hardest part of my life. Finally, what I want to say is that I am caught in this rat race & this has become my conventional life style.
I am sure I want to change this routine and I believe in the saying that change is the only constant in world. Let me explore and experiment with either new or existing strategies to have a better and happy life. I will certainly share those tips after I am done with my research in my future blogs. Self-Control is the mastery achieved only through rigorous will power. This is inherently recursive!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Overeating - A devil in disguise
One of the main causes for Overeating is Emotional feeling towards food & most of the times its not the hunger. Its generally triggered by other deadly emotional feelings such as Anger, Depression, Loneliness, Stress, Anxiety, Boredom & lack of control. The other causes would be attending the great parties such as Wedding, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Saturday-night-potlucks or any other b'day parties where a wide range of mouth-watering food variety is at display. Hardly able to resist our temptation. Sometimes its caused by following unstructured aggressive diets which makes people to starve continuously for few days at stretch and in the end feels very delighted to just binge on anything thats available as a result of uncontrollable hunger strike. Whatever the reason be, this disease is life-threatening by leading to obesity & also give rise to other chronic illnesses on a very long run due to the intake of low quality food in large quantities such as multiple scoop of ice creams, fried food & other kind of unhealthy fast food.
Knowing the causes is not a great deal, here is the toughest part - how to avoid or remove this deadly devil from our daily life. Here are my few simple tips to follow:-
1. Never miss your breakfast even if it is merely a boiled egg, it works.
2. Drink Drink Drink plenty of water or even you might substitute few cups with other fresh fruit juices or butter milk. Be hell-bent on drinking lots of water.
3. Do regularly atleast 15 mins of Pranayama(yoga) or Art of Living - Breathing Exercise, generally recommended in early mornings. This actually gives lots of self control.
4. Take long time to complete your meal by chewing slowly with purpose & enjoy the ambiance & companionship. This gives an illusion that you are eating more.
5. Always eat in smaller plates so that you could manage to have multiple & healthy mini meals throughout the day rather than a few large ones.
6. Substitute your high carb food with fresh & healthy Salads, vegetables & fruits.
7. Walk Walk Walk every night so that it keeps you stay fit. If time permits, I recommend to go either to gym or do a minimum of 30 mins jogging.
8. Finally have a firm will power not to indulge in overeating by getting the mind of food & instead trying to elevate the mood into some other activities like reading a book or writing a blog, etc
Knowing the causes is not a great deal, here is the toughest part - how to avoid or remove this deadly devil from our daily life. Here are my few simple tips to follow:-
1. Never miss your breakfast even if it is merely a boiled egg, it works.
2. Drink Drink Drink plenty of water or even you might substitute few cups with other fresh fruit juices or butter milk. Be hell-bent on drinking lots of water.
3. Do regularly atleast 15 mins of Pranayama(yoga) or Art of Living - Breathing Exercise, generally recommended in early mornings. This actually gives lots of self control.
4. Take long time to complete your meal by chewing slowly with purpose & enjoy the ambiance & companionship. This gives an illusion that you are eating more.
5. Always eat in smaller plates so that you could manage to have multiple & healthy mini meals throughout the day rather than a few large ones.
6. Substitute your high carb food with fresh & healthy Salads, vegetables & fruits.
7. Walk Walk Walk every night so that it keeps you stay fit. If time permits, I recommend to go either to gym or do a minimum of 30 mins jogging.
8. Finally have a firm will power not to indulge in overeating by getting the mind of food & instead trying to elevate the mood into some other activities like reading a book or writing a blog, etc
Sunday, January 21, 2007
My mom-in-law's recipe - Methi Onion Gojju
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped onions
2 spoon fenugreek methi
1 spoon garlic paste
8 red chilies
1/2 cup dalia split (kadale poppu)
1/2 cup grated coconut
5 tbsp Olive oil/Vegetable oil
mustard seeds, curry leaves, salt, tamarind paste, jaggery to taste
Preparation time:
20 to 30 minutes
Method:
1. Put the red chilies, dalia split & grated coconut with little water into a mixer or blender & make a paste of it.
2. Add methi into a bowl containing tamrind paste & microwave for 4 mins to soften.
3. Warm oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds & when it spatters then add the curry leaves, garlic paste & chopped onions.
4. Fry the above mixture till the onions become tender soft & turns slightly golden brown.
5. Add the softened methis along with the paste from the mixer into the pan & boil with little water for 6 to 8 mins in medium flame.
6. Add some salt & jaggery to the taste.
7. Let it simmer for 5 to 6 mins till gravy reaches its consistency .
8. Now, the curry is ready to go with chapathis/phulkas/dosas
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Deed or Destiny
As a kid I always had a tough time deciding about whats leading my future - whether its been carved out of my hard work or is it my destiny which is been shaping my future. Unless, I came across this beautiful story from one of those story books which helped me to analyze my situation or with any others situation. To understand which is greater in life - Deeds or Destiny?? read through this story.
Long ago, there was a great sage in a hermitage who had many disciples on a quest for knowledge. Two among them were Ajay & Vijay.One day these two had a great deal of argument on certain point. According to Ajay, one's fate was above everything & one couldn't get anything unless he is destined to. However, Vijay had a contradictory view that there was nothing like fate or destiny and its because of one's efforts & one's deeds that one could shape himself. Both continued arguing & they failed to reach on consensus so they approached their teacher and explained their point of views.
Sage, after analyzing the situation he said that he will be able to give his reply the next day but until then they were remained shut in a room for 24 hrs and they weren't provided with anything to eat during that period. The day just passed by and it began getting dark in the room and both were feeling terribly hungry. Since Vijay was very hungry he set out on a search in that dark room to find something to eat as Vijay believed in hard work and making efforts. However, Ajay was still adamant with his view that no one will get more than what he is destined to & was seated in his place without putting any effort. Finally, with great effort, Vijay was successful to get hold of a mug kept in a corner and he was happy to find roasted grams in it. He began munching on them & in order to tease his friend he was justifying himself saying that his hard work paid off. In spite of this, Ajay insisted that fate is above everything. This irritated Vijay & gave him small pieces of stones which were mixed with the roasted grams & explained him thats what he is been destined to receive for hunger. Vijay happily accepted his share without any hesitation thinking thats what he is been destined to.
The next day, early in the morning they both got out of the room & met their sage and explained their experiences. First Vijay spoke about how he went in search of something to fill his hunger and decided to make efforts for which he managed to get a mug containing roasted grams, which also contained small piece of stones & how he decided to give those stones to his fatalist. For this Ajay accepted insisting again on fate saying its above everything and was destined to receive those small pieces of stones only.
The sage asked to look into those small pieces of stones for which Ajay took them out of his pocket and gave them to the sage. The sage explained that they were not pieces of stones but they were small pieces of diamonds. The sage explained to the disciples that the mug contained roasted grams and small pieces of diamonds. However, Vijay made efforts to get both but assumed that those diamond pieces to be pieces of stones & gave them to Ajay. And Ajay kept them as he was destined to get diamonds. This put the disciples in to the confusion again - which is greater? Deeds or Destiny?
For which Sage said that both have equal status. Because deeds & destiny move together both are complementary to one another. Hearing this both the disciples were satisfied with the reply from the sage and they never argued on that point again.
I guess, I was destined to bring this story here as I consider it as my deed!!
Long ago, there was a great sage in a hermitage who had many disciples on a quest for knowledge. Two among them were Ajay & Vijay.One day these two had a great deal of argument on certain point. According to Ajay, one's fate was above everything & one couldn't get anything unless he is destined to. However, Vijay had a contradictory view that there was nothing like fate or destiny and its because of one's efforts & one's deeds that one could shape himself. Both continued arguing & they failed to reach on consensus so they approached their teacher and explained their point of views.
Sage, after analyzing the situation he said that he will be able to give his reply the next day but until then they were remained shut in a room for 24 hrs and they weren't provided with anything to eat during that period. The day just passed by and it began getting dark in the room and both were feeling terribly hungry. Since Vijay was very hungry he set out on a search in that dark room to find something to eat as Vijay believed in hard work and making efforts. However, Ajay was still adamant with his view that no one will get more than what he is destined to & was seated in his place without putting any effort. Finally, with great effort, Vijay was successful to get hold of a mug kept in a corner and he was happy to find roasted grams in it. He began munching on them & in order to tease his friend he was justifying himself saying that his hard work paid off. In spite of this, Ajay insisted that fate is above everything. This irritated Vijay & gave him small pieces of stones which were mixed with the roasted grams & explained him thats what he is been destined to receive for hunger. Vijay happily accepted his share without any hesitation thinking thats what he is been destined to.
The next day, early in the morning they both got out of the room & met their sage and explained their experiences. First Vijay spoke about how he went in search of something to fill his hunger and decided to make efforts for which he managed to get a mug containing roasted grams, which also contained small piece of stones & how he decided to give those stones to his fatalist. For this Ajay accepted insisting again on fate saying its above everything and was destined to receive those small pieces of stones only.
The sage asked to look into those small pieces of stones for which Ajay took them out of his pocket and gave them to the sage. The sage explained that they were not pieces of stones but they were small pieces of diamonds. The sage explained to the disciples that the mug contained roasted grams and small pieces of diamonds. However, Vijay made efforts to get both but assumed that those diamond pieces to be pieces of stones & gave them to Ajay. And Ajay kept them as he was destined to get diamonds. This put the disciples in to the confusion again - which is greater? Deeds or Destiny?
For which Sage said that both have equal status. Because deeds & destiny move together both are complementary to one another. Hearing this both the disciples were satisfied with the reply from the sage and they never argued on that point again.
I guess, I was destined to bring this story here as I consider it as my deed!!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Life is all about Medical insurance
This morning I woke up to discover what kind of complex Medical benefit package I have enrolled. This is something new for me & was never used to these kind of insurances in India. Yeah, of course while electing this package last december I didn't research much on those terminologies used by the benefits provider. I blindly boldly decided to go with this United Healthcare Enhanced PPO Plan without investing much time into it thinking that I am a very healthy person & would never visit a doctor and assumed that these insurances are real waste in my case. This theory proved me wrong. Health is one thing though appears to be in our hands, in reality its out of our control. Today I had a doctor's appointment and went to her clinic to get my annual check up done. When I placed my insurance card to the receptionist she was not sure how much co-pay she should charge me as there were no details on the card regarding the co-pay. Hence, she called the United Healthcare and explained me the plan which I hold from my company. She explained me that there is one time $200 deductible along with this there is 15% total cost per visit that will be charged to me and 85% is covered by the benefit plan. Alas, I was dumbstruck. Last 2 years, I used the benefit package of my husband's. I was paying just 15 to 20 dollars as co pay per visit and the rest 100% doctors fee was covered by the plan. Now, in the doctor's clinic I was standing confused whether to go with my annual check up or not :-/ which costs me $200 + 15% of the total expenses.
In fact, I came back home thinking my health is not so bad to spend $200 but it was just a routine check up. However, I learned a very good lesson from this. Just to save few dollars in co pay, I am ending up paying $200 towards deductible. Time will say whether I took a right decision in choosing my Benefit package. Also, I have made my mind to research more on the terminologies and be clear with whatever I am choosing in future. When it comes to money, its time to come out of procrastination and keep our eyes opened for all kind of smallest things.
In fact, I came back home thinking my health is not so bad to spend $200 but it was just a routine check up. However, I learned a very good lesson from this. Just to save few dollars in co pay, I am ending up paying $200 towards deductible. Time will say whether I took a right decision in choosing my Benefit package. Also, I have made my mind to research more on the terminologies and be clear with whatever I am choosing in future. When it comes to money, its time to come out of procrastination and keep our eyes opened for all kind of smallest things.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
My First Blog
Today is the day, I decided to enter into this world of Bloggers life. Hope you all enjoy reading my blogs. I will not be restricting the boundary of my thoughts which I will be sharing with you all using this blog as a means to communicate myself to the world. Currently, I am really excited to view my first posting on the web!
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