Diet

Diet as a PUNISHMENT

‘’You can lose weight if don’t eat anything’’, suggested Habiba to her friend Fatima ( As Habiba lost 10 kgs  in a month and Fatima was really impressed by her weight loss regime that how quickly she lost her weight).She told Fatima ,‘’All she needs to do is to drink water most of the time whenever she feels hungry or eat nothing if she really wants to lose weight”. Fatima started following her instructions though it seemed difficult for her to stay on starvation mode all the time and suppress her hunger but she did not lose hope and kept trying. She barely ate anything the whole day:channa ,daal and BBQ only. She started losing weight within a week (4 kgs) and it really boosted her confidence and she kept following the same diet routine. After a month she lost 10 kgs but funnily she was not happy .She always thought she would feel great if she reached her goal (loosing 10 kgs) but instead of feeling great she felt herself weak, dizzy and full of fatigue and headache. She was unable to focus or concentrate on her work, had a severe hair loss and some fine lines appeared on her skin with a saggy body.

A few days later her  another friend Anum( the fitness trainer) visited her and was really shocked to see that in late 20s  she was looking like a 45 years old woman.Anum gave Fatima a lecture on how she had lost all of her lean body weight. Your bones must be hollow and your muscles must be shrunk ( she told).She advised Fatima to start eating everything by keeping in mind the word MODERATION .Fatima pleaded ,”I just need to feel better”. They ended the conversation with her warning that Fatima shouldn’t be walking so much-did not she do any work in the day??

‘I have good stuff’ ,Fatima said.’But why do you want me to cut down on the walking?’

‘Because’,Anum replied. Your weight bearing joints are weak after the crash diet and not strong enough to bear the stress of walk or any tough physically activity.

After a week Fatima took her son to the park ,where he offered her to do a race competition with him. Unfortunately she tripped over a road ,fell down and suffered multiple fractures on her arm.

So, here was a woman who had just lost a lot of lean weight :lack of exercise reduces neuromuscular control, while not eating in the morning and for long hours  during the day reduces the blood glucose levels.The combined effect of it all was that just tripping over a road ,which at worst should have bruised her arm,left her with multiple fractures.

Where is the bravery in losing weight? People with diarrhea lose weight. So do people with jaundice ,malaria,TB not to mention cancer and AIDS.In fact the bigger the disease the faster the weight loss.Because we think that weight loss will make us happy,but we feel only frustrated and older at the end of yet another extreme diet,it comes with a heightened sense of victimization and betrayal.

Healthy Lifestyle

There are certain basic tenets of lifestyle philosophy that you can follow to reap some health benefits.

Step 1.

Eat small meals about once every two hours throughout the day.

Step 2.

Exercise at least one out of every 3.14 days. Soon  you'll notice an improvement in your health if you eat well for 22 days and exercise on at least 7 of those days.

Step 3.

Drink a lot of water, up to five liters--about 21 cups--per day.