Sveta BhassinFitness cannot be seen in the mirror, one should feel it from within oneself. Mental and physical stress, pollution, poor eating habits like skipping meals to keep the extra weight off, inadequate physical exercise, lack of sleep, etc. all contribute to early ageing.
Ageing is a natural process but you can plan your ageing yourself just as you plan your investments. Your youth is a treasure which does not last forever. So while you have ample of it invest it in developing good habits that will keep ageing at bay for a long time.
Set aside just one hour to look after yourself... EXERCISE. If you don't do it by choice you may have to do it under medical advice some day. Walk or visit the gym, play a sport.
Start your day with 15 minutes of Pranayam daily to bust out your elevated stress hormones which play havoc with your digestion, heart and blood pressure.
Ageing brings about oxidation of cells in the body. Add colour from natural foods like fruits and vegetables to your daily meals. When you put your entire day.s meals on a table, it should look very colourful. Colours from fruits and vegetables are the most effective anti-ageing factors.
Fifteen minutes of deep breathing just before dinner helps in digestion and absorption of all the nutrients from the food.
Add 2 walnuts to your daily diet to get heart-friendly fat and keep good cholesterol high in the blood.
Whenever stressed avoid eating. Instead go for a brisk walk for about 20 minutes. It will reduce the ill effects of stress hormones.
If there has been a long gap between two meals have a fresh fruit before having a sumptuous meal to prevent overeating.
As you grow older your metabolism slows contributing to weight gain. Avoid trying too many different diets to lose weight. Stick to healthy eating and regular exercise so that you do not reach a stage where you have to take very sudden and aggressive measures to shed extra kilos in short periods of time. This damages the body and further reduces metabolism.
Women develop hormonal changes with ageing leading to osteoporosis. Weight-training in a gym from a young age and appropriate protein and calcium intake prevents bone related problems. Including soya products regularly in the diet also keeps female hormones in balance.
A single butt of cigarette contains more than 4,000 chemicals which are alien to our body. These include tar, formaldehyde used for embalming dead bodies etc. Smoking can increase the ageing speed in each and every cell 5 times faster.
Go to bed not later than 11 pm. During sleep your body repairs all the damage that has happened during the day. It uses the raw material from the food you've eaten the entire day, especially from dinner. Two hours after dinner you should be in bed to ensure the repairing process starts and by the time you wake up in the morning your body is ready for the next day.
Get a complete medical check up done every year to address any health issue well in time.
Ageing and stress are a part of life. It is important to discipline oneself to prevent the damage caused by them. So start your fitness regime of eating right and regular exercise from a young age so that it becomes an inseparable part of your life.
Sveta Bhassin is a successful and well-known nutrition and diet consultant.
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