GET FIT TO LEAD

“MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO”, which is a Latin quote, means “a sound mind in a sound body”. I’m sure you would have heard similar quotes many a time, but have you ever thought about its connection with the “Leadership”, surprised? Don’t be, because leadership starts from within.  Yes, the golden rule of leadership begins with first leading thyself to a perfect state, and you cannot do great at work until you feel great about yourself.

Regretting everyday about your bulging belly, bad eating habits, and undisciplined lifestyle is only going to make you feel miserable about yourself. Good fitness habits will make you look better, feel stronger and fill you with plenty of energy. It is a fact that you cannot make someone feel good until you feel good about yourself, a trait very essential in a good leader. You can’t be a source of positive energy if you have no energy.

A good workout will not only improve your health, but also help you think more clearly, boost creativity and manage relentless stress that seems to dominate each day of your professional life. Here is a quote, which makes perfect sense- “Exercise is an insurance policy that we have taken out on our health, and each day we workout, we are paying the premium”- as I read somewhere.

Care for yourself, and you will be able to give more to others. With your good health you guarantee to be an effective leader filled with positive thoughts enjoyable to be around. It is very important for you to first achieve your fitness, in order to achieve your career goals. And if you think- there is no time to work out, no time to plan healthy meals then you better get rid of those excuses.

So, buckle up and don’t shy away from adding an additional goal of being Fit and Healthy next quarter. Put on your running shoes and live a life lot better and more productive.

Go Ahead and Get Fit To Lead !!

PS. This article was recently published in my firm's global quarterly newsletter. 

REDUCING WEIGHT WITHOUT EXERCISE

Hey all, its been a while since I posted a health related article over here. So, I thought why not mention few things that can help you reduce weight without exercise.

Ok, here you go-

1. Swap white bread for brown or whole wheat breads.

2. Make a public declaration on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc about what you eat. This is a great motivation because your friends and followers will keep you pushing for your diet by asking about it :)....tricky haaan :) :)

3. Very Important: Have breakfast and never skip it. Once again "Dont Skip Breakfast"!!

4. Stay Hydrated; Many a times we make a mistake of feeling thirsty as being hungry. Keep sipping in water throughout the day time. Minimum 2 litres of water is essential for an average sized body.

5. Cut out the Sugar in your Tea and Coffee. Just five cups of Tea or Coffee can add upto 500 calories, awwwww.....!!

6. Eat fruit, dont drink it. All the juices have caloried and its better to stick with natural sources like fresh fruits.

7. Eat eggs in the breakfast. A study shows that eggs trigger a hormone that helps suppress hunger and you will end up eating less for the rest of the day.

8. Eat more short meals. Eat five meals rather than three larger meals a day. You should not go too long without food.

Take Care and Stay Fit.
xoxo

LET OUR HEARTS KEEP BEATING

Just little over a couple of months ago, I took a pledge to keep my heart healthy as part of the Billion Hearts Beating campaign. This was a fabulous initiative taken by the "Times of India Group" in collaboration with The "Apollo Group of Hospitals", and most of you would remember that I wrote a sad but a true post about it requesting all of you to take a pledge to improve your health, to better your lifestyle and to start loving your heart. In case you forgot it, I request you to please read this post again- PLEASE LOVE YOUR HEART.

In my opinion, the campaign was a real success and it definitely has opened a lot of eyes and most importantly, a tons of Hearts. The USP for this campaign was the way it was implemented. The huge amount of marketing done indeed made a big difference. Yet, the winners were none other than the people who got so much information in the simplest of form through this mega campaign. The campaign really had a mass appeal.

Yet, one of the most unusual gifts of the creator- "the volatile mind", forgets all the things after sometime; And I'm very sure most of us would have became a little careless if not completely forgotten our pledges that we took couple of months ago as part of the Billion Hearts Campaign. Being very much aware of the biggest weaknesses of the human nature, the organizers of the campaign have made sure the campaign is not just forgotten with the time by now sending a special e-mail to each pledge taker.

Yes, I've got a mail !! In the e-mail, I have received an acknowledgment that certifies- "I took the pledge". Also, in the mail I have received a 12-page booklet attached giving valuable and basic information about the various heart diseases such as Hypertension, Heart Attack, Angina, diabetes etc. Truly, speaking I'm delighted to receive the acknowledgement and the very useful booklet along with it. Also, at the same time I do realize that along with me the readers of my blog post- PLEASE LOVE YOUR HEART also took the pledge and many of them live outside India. So, I decided to share this certificate with all of you here, this belongs to all of you. Also, I will be happy to e-mail you that 12-page booklet if you are interested.

I'm glad, we are changing because the change is visible. I'm glad there are still such campaigns. I'm glad there are still so many people who react to what they read and I'm glad that now you will do something to change your lifestyle to make it better. THANK YOU & LET OUR HEARTS KEEP BEATING !!

 

PLEASE LOVE YOUR HEART

Few days ago while I was working in the office just as any other routine working day, I heard a sudden cry. I turned around in the direction of the sound and saw my colleague weeping at some distance in her cubicle. Her face was all red, it looked as if she was shedding tears in some deep pain, and she could hardly speak anything as her voice was choking in distress. The whole work bay went into an unknown silent-mode. Everyone was confused and curious at the same time, but no one knew what has just happened. While I started heading towards her, couple of her girl-friends surrounded and started asking her- What happened? What happened? I took a glass of water while moving towards her and till the time I reached her desk, she had only uttered very few words in her low weeping voice that no one had understood. I gave her the glass of water, she drank a sip or two and then said- “my mother died”!! She again started crying in deep pain of loss of her mother.

Before anyone could ask her anything, we took her outside of the office work area and then called back from her cell-phone to her relatives. We found out that her family was having the tea at about 4pm in the evening and all of a sudden her mother had cardiac arrest and within 10 minutes of it, she died. My colleague left the office for the airport along with one of her friend, but all of us went into a state of shock. Whole day, I was really upset of what I had witnessed. I got to know that her mother was in her mid 40’s and she had never complained about any heart disease in her whole life, but all of a sudden she was gone. I felt really scared about the death and I was shocked by the fact that- how the heart-attack can suddenly take away a human life? I became worried if something like this has happened to me, what if instead of her mother it would have been mine? Even a small thought of it was making my blood cold and turning my face pale. I started searching the internet in the desperation of knowing everything about the heart diseases, and I found- billionheartsbeating.

Billionheartsbeating is a campaign against the heart diseases. I found that it’s a combined initiative of Apollo Hospital and Times of India aiming at reducing the heart diseases to the null. Billionheartsbeating has all the general information what one should know to avoid the heart diseases, it has all the common heart problems people suffer, their solutions and 92 ways to keep your heart healthy. The best part about this very unique campaign is- it doesn’t talk about the medication or the science behind the prevention of the heart diseases, but the practical commonsensical ways in which we can keep the heart disease that claims many lives annually, at bay.

Good news is you can be the part of this very noble initiative by taking the pledge on Billionheartsbeating. I request all of you to be part of it and take the pledge to keep your heart healthy and most important not just that- with every pledge you take Apollo Hospital will do a free heart-screening at its check-up camp. So, you are not just keeping your heart healthy but also providing a free checkup to someone who is poor and needy. You can ask the experts your queries and you can upload your videos if you think you know the ways to keep your heart at its best. First thing is first, please click here- Billionheartsbeating and take the pledge to keep your heart healthy, and before taking the pledge please make sure that you leave a comment here saying that- “I’m taking this pledge”, so that I can keep a track of who all are being a part of this magnificent campaign with me. In the end, I just want to say that- Heart is for love, heart is for joy, spread the love, spread the joy by keeping your heart good and healthy!!   

#billionhearts

P.S. Its my request to you- please start loving your life, please start loving your heart. Let us all, take this pledge to stay fit and eradicate all heart diseases from our lives……Heart is a symbol of love, if heart dies love dies, lets do it for the love of our life.  


***BE A PART OF IT & INSPIRE OTHERS TO JOIN YOU*************

KEEP HEALTHY, EAT HEALTHY

The perfect way to start your Sunday mornings is to have a perfect breakfast. Its really essential to eat the right food to be on top of your health. I strongly believe-“a healthy mind only comes with the healthy food”. Considering the fact that how busy life we all are living, its very difficult to focus on the few minute things in our lives like the food. Especially, when you are living in a country like India, which is a paradise for the foodies and the food is really tempting, it is really hard to resist the not so healthy food. Moreover, the demography and the culture are such that there are only few choices to make from the really healthy food items but, there is good news.

The good news is people are getting more aware about the healthy living and especially about the healthy foods. There has been a sudden outburst of healthy and fat-free food items in the Indian retail market and the sales are high as never before. The fitness industry is at its all time peak and it’s expected to rise further. People are getting more aware about the heart diseases, the cardiac risks and the diabetes. India is certainly became the diabetic capital of the world and we have to take special attention to it before the situation goes out of hand.

On a lighter note, its not that everyone needs to follow a strict exercise regimes and diet plans to live a healthy life style, but it’s just following the basic things and making the right choices while you are eating, and we all know nothing in excess is good for the body. I’m also kind of focused about my health, and every now-n-then I try to keep it healthy. Today, its been a perfect start, I feel blessed to have my delicious healthy breakfast. You can see in the pictures- I had brown-bread veg. cheese sandwiches with loads of raw vegetables, mixed fruit juice and a glass of mango-shake (without the sugar)…..hmmmm yummy J. So, stay fit, eat good food and have a good life, ENJOY!!   

      

MY FAVORITE CUP OF TEA

I was never a 'Coffee-guy', I never liked it that much. Tea has always been my priced possession and I always took pride in announcing myself as the hard-core 'Tea-lover'. The word- 'tea' itself comes with a refreshing feeling to me, and I could instantaneously imagine the delicious flavor of my favorite cup of tea. Every morning my dozed eyes won't open until I have a sip of tea. A day without my very special bed tea is like an unusual beginning with the catalyst being omitted. As soon as my body starts gaining senses while sipping the ever delicious tea, the mind starts looking for the newspaper to read, and then follows the most peaceful hour of the day when I feel refreshed and excited to start my brand new day, thanks to my favorite cup of tea.

Ask any tea lover about the dip-dip tea bags and you will soon notice a grin on the face as nothing beats the original kadak patti waali chai. Unfortunately, for all the tea lovers like me office time tea is simply a turn off as most corporate places will serve the dip-dip tea, and  this is the main reason why we always notice the crowded stall of Ramu Chai Wala outside all the big corporate offices in India, after all we all love our desi strong cutting- the kadak chai. Tea is like an excuse of taking the break from the busy work schedules, its like an excuse to gain back the concentration, its like a trigger to solve the complex problem and there will be thousands of other reasons that the tea-drinkers will give for the love of tea.

What amazes me the most is the fact that despite such a large population of tea drinkers across the whole nation there are hardly any corporate promoters of commercial tea parlors like the ones for coffee e.g. Cafe Coffee Day, Barista, Chocolate Room etc. Though all these famous coffee shops serve tea but that is pathetic, and its very much understandable as all of them are coffee brands. Such is the apathetic condition of the most loved drink in India, oh it hurts me!! I m dedicating this post for the love of my favorite cup of tea, and hoping more people will start drinking and promoting tea as it is also scientifically proved that tea is good for health.

BEST WORKOUT PRACTICES

It's really important to understand and be really clear about your goal of doing the exercises first, one should be absolutely crystal clear about what he or she is trying to achieve by doing all the physical activities? Once, you know exactly in which direction you want to transform you body then you have to plan for your fitness schedule. Regularity is the most important thing in attaining your fitness goals but at the same time it is the most difficult thing to persist with. One should just not feel motivated about his or her workout once in a week but it has to happen everyday, only then you can be committed to what you want to achieve. The basic fundamental of fitness is not just working out rigorously everyday but also give your body the complete rest to flourish. Body certainly gets tired and then there are injuries that are caused by over-worked muscles or strains, so its necessary not only to plan your work out days but also the rest days. Most people just plan their workouts and beyond that they don't care, but the ground reality is that that workout is just a part of your whole day and your body is still functioning outside the gymnazium. Hence, think the big picture not just that one or one and a half hour.    

It's really important to understand your body type, if its a little higher on fat kind of body type then the work-out should be comparatively with moderate weights and large number of repetitive sets in contrast to the work out with heavy weights and lesser repetitions, suiting the lean or slim body types.   Body posture while doing any exercise is as critical as any other factor. It becomes all the very more important thing because its your body and you cannot just play with it, there has to be specific body positions and postures while performing any exercise, and its utmost important to maintain proper postures while working out. Once you get into a mode of maintaining the correct body posture, your body becomes more balanced, and this is the stage when you can start experimenting with your workouts. May be you can increase the weights or may be you can increase the repetitions, you can try n number of things you want to try.  


Breathing is another important aspect of workout, its really important to understand when to inhale and when to exhale while you are in full swing of your workout. It also helps a lot to keep the body to normal level by maintaining proper heart rate and the body doesn't get tired soon. It increases the overall body endurance and stamina. Another, important thing is- the intervals. You have to be really smart in taking your breaks between the exercises. The breaks are really important thing- one should not stretch to workout continuously so that he becomes unconscious while doing exercises also one should not take so much breaks that its more rest than exercise. Drinking appropriate quantity of water during the workout is one really important thing. You have to sip through very minimal amount of water while working out, it couldn't be liters of water else it will all come out. Also, one should not die because of dehydration while doing exercises. These are few of the most basic workout practices one should follow during workout but at the same time these are the most important ones too. So, try these things and soon implement them in your fitness schedule. Com'on Go For It and see the results!!  I believe fitness is really important and one should believe in the fact that "Fitness Is For All, Fitness Is For Mankind".

SWINE FLU: THE TEST OF PEOPLE’S FITNESS

Swine Flu death toll has just touched to 27 today in India. In the city of Pune alone the death toll has reached to 15 and in Bangalore, a total of 5 people have been victimized to death by Swine Flu. The picture is looking gloomy but it also raises a question, is the virus attacking everyone and anyone can fall its prey?

The answer to the above question in the most simple, scientific and logical way would be – Yes. The Swine Flu Virus can attack anybody but it’s not necessary that you will suffer the H1N1 Influenza. Let me put light on some of the facts, which reflects a true story.

In India out of the 27 people, who have died approximately 12-14 people have died because of the lack of proper medical remedies been taken against the Swine Flu, which were because of the lack of detection of Swine Flu or late detection by the doctors. Rest of the people, who died are either the old people (50+ years of age) or children below the age of 15.

Now there is a common thing between the people of older age and the children, which is their Immune System. Both the older aged people and children have a similar kind of immunity levels. The children normally have their immunity in a pre-matured stage, which is yet to develop into a full fledged reliable Immune System and on the other hand, aged people have weak immunity, which has deteriorated over the years and is not in the most reliable form. In both the cases, lower fitness and lower immunity are the reasons for victimization to H1N1 Influenza.

One thing is very clear that Immunity is driven from a person’s fitness. A better fitness levels can help an individual gain a reliable immune system. A 20-minutes daily workout of cardiovascular exercises can improve your immune system. By having a better immune system it will be more difficult for you to catch a cold or any other viral diseases for that matter. It’s a necessity to maintain a good fitness level along with good hygiene to fight against viral diseases like Swine Flu. So, hit the gym or start working out on your fitness today. Better fitness leads to better life and for the first time in my life I have realized the true meaning of the statement – The Survival of the Fittest. Hope you too understand it today and live a better life with better fitness from here on.