Holistic Wellness , What it means to you
Both Siddha and Ayurveda are holistic systems of medicine, meaning they focus on wellness of mind, body, and spirit. Technically holistic wellness includes 8 dimensions, physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social, financial, and environmental wellness. But it boils down to approaching health in terms of finding your ideal version, building your ideal version.
Holistic health is a broad concept. This blog focuses on understanding what it could mean to you and how to customize it to build your healthy, vibrant self. Don't forget, wellness is an ongoing journey and way of life. Setting timelines like lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks , extreme diets, heavy workouts might work against you and often is not realistic. Discover and customize wellness for your body be being patient, consistent, self-aware and by listening to your body.
Physical Wellness
Diet, good sleep and exercise goes without saying when it comes to physical wellness, but the key is to understand what kind of diet and exercise works well for YOU.
Diet, good sleep and exercise goes without saying when it comes to physical wellness, but the key is to understand what kind of diet and exercise works well for YOU.
Say a person who works at a desk all day, wants to lose fat and gain muscle workout everyday and his/her routine is to do HIIT and weightlifting ; with low calories, low carbs and protein heavy diet . In this example, there is a good change their metabolism is slow with symptoms fatigue, lack of energy difficulty losing weight; why?, because of sedentary life that involves sitting at the their desk, when you sit for hours one end with little movement, your metabolism tends to be slow. So, when they do actually workout and they focus on heavy workout like heavy weightlifting and HIIT leaving him/her tired after workout. This might result in inflammation and water retention which might increase their weight.
Let's breakdown the above example,
The Diet : Any form of extreme diet is not good for you. increasing protein intake is good, but your body need other important nutrients to function and it is vital to understand that carbohydrates is not your enemy, it is a vital nutrient that contributes to your energy. Getting energy from wholefoods with balanced nutrients is key. focusing on one nutrient like protein can have adverse effect on some. example, high protein and low fibre diet might not work well for some people. Observing what works for your body and adjust you diet with wholefoods while keeping an eye on portions size will do wonders for your body.The workout: A good workout will leave you energized, mood elevated and with improved metabolism. The routine in the example is a clear sign that the workout too heavy for the person. When you feel tired or slugging after working out , it might be a sign that you are overworking your body. This might result in muscle tear , even though common, will lead to increased inflammation and water retention. Better way to approach workout would be to start with simple routine, like walking for ~30 - 40 mins and finishing with 10 -15 min yoga. observe how your body feels after following a simple routine for a month or for a few weeks. Additionally, aiming for both fat loss and muscle gain through a workout is extremely difficult to pull off, unless you are a professional. Focusing on fat loss/weight loss first and then, working your way to muscle building while eating a balanced diet will get you much better results.
Find the workout routine and exercise, that energizes you and make you feel good at the end of it. This doesn’t happen overnight or in a week or in 10 days. discovering, building, and customizing your workout will be an ongoing effort. Being patient and consistent with your effort is key.
Consistent exercise
Consistent exercise
Working out 3-5 days a week for ~30 min - 1 hour is good start. If you can't do your proper routing, go for the lazy version. key is consistency.
Portion Control
Portion Control
seeing results of your exercise depends on your portion. You can use your hand to measure portions to keep track.
Healthy eating
Healthy eating
Your meal should provide the right amount of calories packed with proper nutrition.
Gut Health
Gut Health
Including probiotics and prebiotics in your diet is key towards physical wellness.
When it comes to Diet or I should eat lifestyle, I cannot emphasize this enough; observing and being self-aware about what food supports your health, makes you/Gut happy and what makes you feel bloated and throws your inner routine off balance is vital. Healthy amount of right combination nutrients in important; when I say healthy amount, I mean the healthy portion for you.
Getting the best of the nutrition:
You'd be surprised to know how one vitamin or mineral help absorb another vitamin or other micronutrients better[i] e.g. vitamin C and Zinc, Calcium and Vitamin D etc., Nutrition is a vast topic, but it’s important to know the absolute basics of it, two main types of vitamins – ’s important to know the absolute basics of it, two main types of vitamins –
- Water-soluble vitamins (B and C): they are not stored in your body, so they need to be replenished daily. What doesn’t get absorbed from your bloodstream will be eliminated as waste (urine).’t get absorbed from your bloodstream will be eliminated as waste (urine).
- Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K): these get stored with fats and can be absorbed for up to 6 months[ii].
Ideal plate: complex carbohydrate (1cup rice, 1 slice of whole wheat toast,), protein (plant based if you can), vegetables and spinach with fatty acids. Looking at your plate and asking what nutrition my body will get from this meal is a good habit that helped me slowly change my eating habits into a healthy lifestyle.
Finding the right portion for you: eating for the mood has become the norm and without realizing we’ve lost touch in providing the right nutrients for our body. Look at your plate and try assessing what nutrients your body gets from it, does your plate have mostly rice or naan or bread or pasta? Will your body get the right vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the food on your plate that mostly contains carbs or protein and are high in calories that might even meet your daily needs? ’ve lost touch in providing the right nutrients for our body. Look at your plate and try assessing what nutrients your body gets from it, does your plate have mostly rice or naan or bread or pasta? Will your body get the right vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the food on your plate that mostly contains carbs or protein and are high in calories that might even meet your daily needs?
Say you need 1500 calories to exist a day, your lunch contains 2 cups of rice, some chicken curry or paneer. Or your lunch is 3 slices of pizza with chicken and green peppers. You are consuming roughly 700 calories, which is half of the energy you need per day which mostly contains carbohydrates, fat and protein. All three are important, but when that’s all you consume every single day for years, your poor body barely gets enough essential nutrition.’s all you consume every single day for years, your poor body barely gets enough essential nutrition.
prebiotic and probiotics: there are various research, studies and books proving the link between health gut and our brain (gut-brain axis). Probiotics are healthy (mostly) microbes that live in your gut and in exchange they help balance your gut and defend against harmful particles including other microbes, metabolize digestive compounds, detoxify foreign chemicals (xenobiotics), breakdown dietary fiber and complex molecules that our body can’t break down on its own[i].[i].
, understanding fiber without water loses its benefits and might even cause constipation.
Knowing and understanding what's good for one thing is and making it into healthy lifestyle is another. I write about the importance of healthy eating while placing an order on UberEATS, don’t be like me, be better!’t be like me, be better!
Mind wellness
Your everyday stress, anxiety, depression have an impact on your physical health. E.g., for women, stress can delay your period throwing your menstrual cycle and hormones off balance, anger and depression has physical effect on your gut etc.
Say you are on your way to work and you’re late, you are already anxious, stressed as you drive through India’s worst traffic and to make things worse, while stuck in traffic, someone cuts you off. Now you’re angry, frustrated along with being stressed about being late. As you go through these emotions, your stomach aggressively contracts, increases production of acid and slows down digestion b and it’s not even 9 a.m. your body will experience the aftermath of your morning adventure throughout the day.’re late, you are already anxious, stressed as you drive through India’s worst traffic and to make things worse, while stuck in traffic, someone cuts you off. Now you’re angry, frustrated along with being stressed about being late. As you go through these emotions, your stomach aggressively contracts, increases production of acid and slows down digestion b and it’s not even 9 a.m. your body will experience the aftermath of your morning adventure throughout the day.
So, what can we do about our mental health when stress is nearly unavoidable in this day and age. A good start would be practicing mindfulness and taking care of your gut health. Turning it into a habit will help.
Next time your stressed, angry or frustrated, try focusing on your breathing and lengthen your exhale. Start by resetting your breath by exhaling all the air from your lungs. And slowly inhale for 4 seconds, hold it for 2 seconds and exhale for 6 seconds[iii] by repeating this for 2 to 5 minutes while grounding yourself; try listing 5 things you see and feel, will help your body to calm down.
Some key ways to improve mental health,
- Practicing mindfulness
- Forming healthy habits: habits are powerful!
- Self-awareness
- Managing stress
- Maintaining your gut health: the Brain-Gut link is real.
- Digital minimalism
Spiritual Wellness
Satisfaction with yourself and your life. Spiritual wellness focuses on purpose and meaningful life. Religion might be the first word that comes to mind for most. But it doesn’t have to be religion. It can simply be what makes you feel fulfilled. Being ethical, sticking to principles that give you satisfaction, being enthusiastic about something that gives you purpose, it doesn't have to be religion. It can simply be what’s you feel fulfilled. Being ethical, sticking to principles that give you satisfaction, being enthusiastic about something that gives you purpose.Next time your brain goes down the rabbit hole of , the meaning of life and experiencing existential crisis special episode in your head, remember, it’s not a bad thing; it’s okay to feel this way. Wanting to feel fulfilled or wanting meaning in life is important for spiritual wellness's the meaning of life and experiencing existential crisis special episode in your head, remember, it’s not a bad thing, it’s okay to feel this way. Wanting to feel fulfilled or wanting meaning in life is important for spiritual wellness.
Exploring what makes you feel purposeful, content, and the journey to find meaning can be enjoyed.