Deconstruct to reconstruct

“Every day, you reinvent yourself. You’re always in motion. But you decide every day: forward or backward.”

—James Altucher

Day 18/30

Sometimes you just burnout. Your daily routine doesn’t seem fruitful anymore. You get upset by the end of the day because of your procrastination on important tasks throughout the day. You feel lost, demotivated and desperately seek a fresh start. You write down a to-do list for next day, it consists of everything that you wish you would do but you’ve never attempted it even once in your whole life. Like waking up at 5 am (when your usual timing is 8 am), reading 50 pages of a book (usual count 0), workout for 30 mins (usual count 0) so on and so forth. You get the point. Things don’t exactly transpire the way you’d wish for the next day and thus begins the endless loop of self pity and unproductivity. How do you get out of it? Let me lay down small tips that might help!

• Deconstruct your day : Find out 3 key tasks from your daily routine that you’d wish to change. It can be very simple tasks like drinking 1 liter water or reading 10 pages of a book.

• Reconstruct it step by step : If you are habituated to have a bath in the evening, try having it in the morning the next day. Skip junk food for a day. Make it very simple and short and challenge yourself you attempt just these 3 tasks the next day. Since the tasks are simple, attempting them shouldn’t seem too difficult. Once you accomplish them, you’d have the confidence to increase the level of these targets the next day. Take each day as it comes. Don’t try to become wonderwoman the very next day!

• Convert your mind into a trainer : You know those taskmasters in the gym who set your goals, motivate you to achieve them every single day, envision your long term targets, keep a tab on your progress and make sure you succeed! You have an in house trainer that wouldn’t cost you a dime, YOUR MIND! I know this works since I’ve tried it before. Our mind has 2 voices, one always recommends the easy way out (the procrastinator), the other motivates you to chose the right path (the taskmaster). Try to concentrate on your mind’s chatter for a day. Your mind always gives you 2 choices. Your intuition always knows what’s right for that moment but there’s another voice which makes your procrastinate everything and choose the lazy route out. Force yourself to listen to the taskmaster at least 3 out of 5 times and you’ll be sorted.

That’s it for now. These are very simple and basic steps that has the power to change your lifestyle, slowly and steadily. A big change in our life might not take overnight but we can make sure to change our life, one brick at a time.

Consistency > Motivation

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”

-Dwayne Johnson

Day 7/30

As I was binge eating chocolate today, watching videos of amazing fitness influencers smashing their workouts, I thought to myself begrudgingly, “It’ll take me years to reach their level!”. It’s funny how I decided that I might be able to do it, without trying my hand at it. I have been working out for close to 2.5 years now, the intensity and passion in my effort has worn off sharply since the first 3 months of my fitness journey. The first 3 months were intense and I was extremely motivated to lose weight. That was my sole purpose in life during those 3 months. Ever since I lost weight, I have given myself the leeway to give up fairly easily, have no restrictions in my diet, skip my workouts, be indisciplined at times with the only excuse of, “I deserve it this time, I’ll get back on track tomorrow.” And that tomorrow never comes.

It’s easier to be consistent than wait for our motivation to support us in our goals. The journey towards achieving our goals is set on a long, winding and difficult path. If we wait for our motivation to help us scale this journey, we might have to take frequent breaks and delay the journey by a couple of years. However, being consistent and working on our goals everyday, in the best way possible, shows definite results over time. The wait is excruciatingly painful but can be borne by frequently rewarding ourselves on achieving our daily tasks.

Also the best way to be consistent is to make a habit out of it. Force yourself to stick to a schedule for at least a month or till the time it feels weird when you skip it. Once this is achieved, being consistent is comparatively easy. There are many ups and downs in every human’s life. As I was talking to someone close to me today (the most talented person I know), I understood how negative thoughts can absolutely DESTROY a human being. I know she is capable of GREAT things in life however her mind has total control over her actions. Her negative self talk flares up, especially during important events in her life and clouds her judgement. She ends up losing a lot of great opportunities to take her life to the next level and witnessing this physically hurts me. I realized from her experience that I do not wish to give the negative thought process in my mind any attention and DO WHAT’S BEST TO TAKE MY LIFE TO THE NEXT LEVEL, always! I want to be clear on what I want to do and be in life. Right now, I’m on the brink of losing everything to negativity. I wish to change it, FOREVER.

Is it possible,

• to never succumb to negativity?
• to have total control of our mind?
• to use our mind to our advantage, always?
• to make the best choices for success in life?
• to be in sync with the Universe?
• to ignite our motivation when we need it?

I don’t know the answers to these questions yet but I wish to learn them soon. I’ll start with self introspection and understanding my short and long term goals in life. Once I have these written down, I’ll devise a daily routine that helps me work on all of my goals, brick by brick, each day. The most important aspect is to be CONSISTENT at it, by hook or by crook.

Let’s do this!

Get over it

“You just can’t let life happen to you, you have to make life happen.”

― Idowu Koyenikan

Day 2/30

Today has been a pretty lazy day. I was so inactive throughout the day that I chose lying on the bed, thinking about nothing whatsoever over blogging despite making a commitment to myself (and my blog). For the longest time, I wanted to find a foolproof way to make my weekends productive. I know, we need to rewind and rest, that’s very essential for our physical as well as mental well being. However, I mindlessly waste my weekend, doing absolutely nothing and that makes me feel extremely guilty by the end of it. I don’t wish to have those extended guilt tripped thoughts anymore.

I know few ways (through years of watching ted talks, reading 100s of self help books and observing my thought patterns) to overcome the lazy mode and get around to do something. I know it’s weird that I still end up being unproductive when I am totally aware of the techniques to avoid it. The key here is “intention“. When you really wish to do something in life, you do it regardless of the hurdles and problems you face. When your mind has given up on you and your life, all you wish to do is “NOTHING“.

I’m sick of doing and feeling “nothing”. I don’t know my purpose in life yet but I do know that it would most definitely involve “experiencing life in it’s glory“. It’s challenging, hard, hectic but beautiful nevertheless. In order to do so, we need to may follow the below steps :-

• Positive self talk/affirmations : Have you ever tried complimenting yourself in front of the mirror? Try it as soon as you can. It may seem a little awkward at first but soon you’ll get used to uplifting yourself than shredding yourself to pieces. Indulge in a little self care session of talking about your achievements, your goals, your skills, yourself in general. This will surely uplift your mood, charge you up for the day ahead and make you feel really great in your skin. You can add this as part of your daily routine (especially at bedtime) so that you wake up energized, ready to seize the day.
• Make a to-do list : I cannot stress enough on the importance of this step. If we don’t know what we are supposed to do during the day, we end up wasting time doing nothing. It’s very important to be aware of your tasks for the day and the time slots to complete it. A to-do list prepared the night before gives you enough motivation to wake up in the morning and provides the direction to complete all your tasks in an efficient manner. “When in doubt, note it down!“
• Meditate and workout : These activities are known to make people happy, positive and energized. Doing it first thing after you wake up makes you feel productive right after staring your day and sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you are a beginner, try by doing it for just 5 mins each. You will most definitely feel better after it’s done and dusted. If you have done it before, be insanely consistent with it. No excuses!
• Live in the present moment : Meditation helps in focusing our attention on our breath and ignore the chatterbox that lives rent-free in our mind. Journaling is a great way to rethink about the day, find out the highlights of the day and write it down for posterity. This simple yet powerful activity is sure to bring your attention back to the present moment. Procrastination is fear in disguise (at least in my case). When I fear that I might not be able to do a task, scared to attempt a new thing, avoid social interactions, fear that I might make a fool of myself in front of others, I procrastinate. Work on being confident in your own skin, do the things that scare you the most, attempt new things, this will help in developing your confidence, from scratch.
• Cut out refined sugar : Sugar feels great for your taste buds but your body despises it. It makes you feel bloated, adds unnecessary weight to your mind and body, makes you feel lethargic, has zero nutrient value, pulls you ten steps backward from your fitness goals and breaks you out at times. Find out ways to avoid cravings. I used to crave something sweet after my lunch each day. I have started to drink green tea right after lunch to curb those cravings and so far it’s working well. Of course I lose track many times and eat beyond limits, but it’s great if you cut it out completely from your diet to feel better about yourself (mind and body).
• Portion control your meals : It’s no suspense that eating excess food drags you down and makes you feel drowsy and lethargic. Be grateful for every meal and eat mindfully. Remember that food is a necessary fuel to help you survive. Don’t associate your happiness levels to the amount of food on your plate. Eat right and feel good throughout the day. I just saw a brilliant technique to avoid overeating online. 30 mins before your schedules meal, drink water so that you don’t confuse thirst with hunger.

I guess that’s all I have for today. I am going to follow these steps this moment onwards. I’m tired of living a directionless life and it’s high time that I change (for the better). Let’s do this!

My younger self

“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.  Tiptoe of if you must, but take the step.”

-Unknown

I was quiet an insecure child growing up. I more or less disliked every aspect of my personality. At times I was laid back and always procrastinated till the last minute for any school activity. I was overweight and made fun of by my cousins who I cared about the most. We didn’t have much money in the family and grew up in a dingy little house which I was ashamed about. I wanted to be an organized person but kept failing at keeping up with the elaborate study schedule that I prepared with much gusto, every DAMN time. I was a shy and introverted girl and was scared to speak even in a group of close friends. I had social anxiety and dreaded any situation where there was even a remotely possible chance of having people’s attention on me. I was ALWAYS late to any place, be it school or classes or meet up with my friends.

As a child, I desperately wanted to change these aspects of me that I as embarrassed about. I wanted to quickly grow up and change myself for the better. I felt growing up and earning money will be the solution to all my problems. I grew up, earned money and became more conscious of myself than I ever was before. Happiness still eluded me. I found a new found trouble in the form of “work stress” and was anxious 24*7. I was still scared to speak in a group, lived in a house that I was ashamed of and was overweight. I kept longing to become the person my younger self would be proud of and change my life for the better. But that day never came and I stopped hoping for it.

A few days back, I found my old diaries inside my book shelf. As I started to read my old diary entries, I couldn’t help but feel bittersweet about my emotions when I wrote them. It reeked of desperation. And a realization dawned upon me that I HAVE BECOME THE PERSON I desperately wanted to become as a child. My life has had a 180 degree change in the last 3 years ever since I’ve joined this workplace which I crib about all the time. I am no longer overweight, my house is renovated and I’m proud of it, my social anxiety is under control, I AM ORGANISED about most things in life and I try to diligently work towards my goals in life. Yet, I was unhappy. I couldn’t believe that I was unhappy even after achieving ALL of my childhood goals. I AM THE PERSON MY YOUNGER SELF WANTED TO BE ALL MY LIFE. This realization has been path breaking for me.

I have decided to live in the present moment as much as I can, celebrate the little wins and document each day of my life. Life has treated me fairly well and I shouldn’t have any reasons to complain about. Yet, I crib and cry over the little things that would have been insignificant and completely manageable to my younger self. My present life seems like a fairy tale when I look through the eyes of my younger self. I’ll try my level best to make most of everything in my life going ahead and live it in the best possible manner. Each day is a blessing and I wish to celebrate my life. While my present self is giving me a disapproving look, my younger self is jumping with joy with this idea. I plan to listen to my younger self this time!

12 goals for 2021

My goals are usually very descriptive and never ending. I love writing down goals and I’m curious to experience life in general. Although I’m tempted to write down every goal in the book each year, I’ve decided to stick to 12 most important ones this time. I’m jotting down these goals here as my wish list for the Universe. It’ll be great fun to revisit them at the end of the year and figure out how many goals I managed to accomplish.

1. Travel to South Korea and attend BTS concert live
2. Clear Chartered Financial Analyst^® (CFA^®) level 1 exam (scheduled on 21st February), earn a scholarship for Level 2 exam
3. Run 10 kms under 60 minutes and half marathon under 2 hrs 15 minutes
4. Meet my other half (Dripped in cheese, I know. The wait has been excruciatingly long!)
5. Lose body fat, gain muscle definition (will define this in absolute terms once I check my current measurements)
6. Read 50 books and watch 50 shows/movies
7. Join the 5 am club (wake up at 5 am everyday)
8. Help mom lose weight (10 kgs) and become the fittest version of herself
9. Complete 12 online courses
10. Cross the 500 articles and 1000 followers mark on my blog, The Supermode.
11. Speak, read and write fluent Korean
12. A 50% increase in my current pay scale, upgrade in my designation at work (through my current job or a new one)

That’s it and I’m all pumped for 2021!

Year in review : 2020

“It Doesn’t Matter Where You Came From. All That Matters Is Where You Are Going.”

-Brian Tracy

And it’s done, the most exceptional year of 21st century has finally come to an end. It’s 31st December 2020 and I’m starting a new tradition on my blog this year on wards. I started this year with a long list of goals in mind. My mental health was in shambles and I didn’t really have the confidence to fulfill any of these goals. I tried to do my best every day but it didn’t lead to any fruitful results. And then an inevitable situation took place, a pandemic shook the world and took over the reins of the entire mankind’s existence. We were scared and anxious yet dealt it with utmost resilience and strength. We learnt new things everyday and became more aware of the priceless blessing that is “life“. I am definitely a changed person by the end of this marvelous year. It taught me a lot, made me focus on the goodness of life, helped me work on myself and adopt a healthy lifestyle and most importantly gave me the gift of “time“. Here’s my 2020 year reviewed.

January

• Participated in the Tata Mumbai Marathon on 19th January and conquered my fear of running a distance of 21 kms at one go. I ran for 10 kms at a stretch at this race and was completely drained out when I crossed the 19 kms mark. I pushed myself to finish the race and have never felt more proud of myself! One of the most liberating experiences of my life!

• My office friend gifted me a box of cupcakes that made my efforts in preparing and running the half marathon totally WORTH it. This just made me feel extremely happy and motivated at the same time.

• I had the opportunity to run another long run, 26 kms on 26th January (Republic day, India). This was with the running group from my hometown and the experience was phenomenal.

• My childhood friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on 28th January. I went to see her the day she was born.

February

• Travelled to Mussoorie and Delhi with my friend and had a complete blast. I didn’t want to come back to my daily life and return to work after this mind blowing vacation.

March

• Tried an Ice-cream thali for the first time in my life. Needless to say, the experience was FABULOUS, especially for a desert junkie like me.

• Completed my first long workout of 2020, a 45 min HIIT session. This was a stress buster for me as our Indian Government had just announced a complete lock down at this time. I was left at home without a laptop or remote access to complete my office work. My anxious thoughts ranged from losing my job to being asked to come to work at any cost despite the travel restrictions. I’m glad things worked out well in the end and I started working from home.

• Due to the lock down, the access to my staple comfort food such as ice cream and momos were restricted. I decided to try making them at home with the help of our dear old YouTube. 2020 has made me much more confident with my cooking skills and I am happy with my progress with this very important life skill. Cooking is also a stress buster for me and I tried out a lot of interesting recipes.

April

• I turned 30 this month. I had big plans of celebrating my birthday in Goa which could not see the light of the day due to the pandemic. Contrary to my expectations, I had a pretty awesome birthday, in fact, it is the most memorable one of my life till date. (P.S. I tried baking a biscuit cake for myself which did look like a cake but tasted exactly like biscuits!)

• I re-attempted baking a cake for my mom’s birthday on 27th April and this one turned out way beyond my expectation.

May

• I started to get a little anxious of being called back to office. The cases in India were mounting however the senior management of my organization didn’t really believe in the “work from home” agenda. They started having meetings on finding out ways to call back people to work.

June

• I went out of my comfort zone to record a dance sequence for my choreographer friend’s birthday. I had mentally given up when I first saw the dance steps however I pulled through with a lot of support and motivation from my amazing friends.

• The complete “work from home” situation came to an end when my boss called me back to work (albeit in a rude manner!). I normally use the Mumbai local trains for my office commute which had been shut to avoid the spread of virus. The only alternative was a bus service from a stop which was 10 kms away from my home. I left my home at 6 am on 29th June for my office which starts at 9 am. The bus commute took an exhausting 4 hrs due to traffic in the morning. I reached home around 9 pm that day. I hated my organization for forcing us to travel to office, in the middle of a pandemic without easy travel arrangements in place. Well, I knew that this was a challenging situation and crying about it wouldn’t make it any easier. Music was my savior during this time. I listened to BTS songs on repeat during my bus ride. I experience motion sickness while travelling hence didn’t have any other way to utilize my travel time (crazy 8 hrs) in a productive manner. I also started experiencing episodes of depression and anxiety. Since I didn’t get diagnosed by a professional, I don’t know if I was suffering from depression but all my symptoms pointed right at it.

July

• I posted my first article on this blog after a hiatus of almost 10 months on 17th July (my last article before this was in September, 2019). This was a path breaking step that changed my life for the better. I was reconnected to my first love, writing and it was my constant support to cope up with the tough situations I was facing in life back then.
• I decided to take the most difficult yet BEST decision of my life by entering into a “100 day daily blogging challenge” on 24th July. I honestly didn’t have the confidence to complete this one yet dived right into it as blogging was the only thing that gave me mental peace at that time.

August

• BTS released their song “Dynamite” on 21st August and the world has not been the same ever since. This song felt like a tight hug every single time I listened to it during my bus rides. My bus ride felt a lot less exhausting only due to the existence of this song in my life. Thank you BTS for “Dynamite”
• I gave my first job interview after a break of almost 2 years on 25th August. I have terrible interview anxiety and even the thought of it can send a shiver down my spine. I somehow forced myself to not bunk the interview (I’ve done it on multiple occasions before) and face my fear head first. I GAVE THE INTERVIEW AND FELT A LOT MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT MYSELF FOR GIVING A DECENT ATTEMPT!
• My amazing friend gave me the most incredible gift for my 30th birthday. She sent it to me in August because our country was in lockdown during my birthday in April. I have written an article about it the gift too, it made me immensely happy!! (https://thesupermode.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/surprise/)

September

• My blog hit a 100 FOLLOWERS in this month. I felt blessed, grateful and extremely happy for all the support showered on my blog. I was pumped and motivated to continue doing what I loved the most, blogging!
• My amazing friends showered me with more birthday gifts. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve the MOST AMAZING friends in my LIFE! Life is good!! 🙂

• My mom accidently fell down at home and fractured her arm. It was a little difficult to manage work and household chores during this time but we sailed through.
• I got an allotted shares in the IPO (Initial Public Offer) of a company. The odds of getting selected were 73 to 1 and I felt extremely blessed to have got the opportunity to get an allotment. I was on cloud 9!
• I hit a total of 1000 LIKES on my blog. It felt SURREAL to say the least.

October

• Had my longest meditation streak on Headspace for 10 days. I have been unsuccessful several times in the past to create a daily meditation habit. Finally started it in 2020 and couldn’t have been more happy about it.

• My sister surprised us with a visit after spending almost 8 months apart. She stayed with us for more than 1.5 months which has been the longest time she has been at home ever since she started working in a different city away from our hometown.

November

• Completed the “100 days writing challenge” successfully on my blog on 1st November. I never thought I could finish the challenge when I jumped into it 100 days back. We can ACHIEVE everything we want if we are CONSISTENT in our efforts.
• Finally got the opportunity to go on a trip for the spinster’s party of my friend to a resort close to my hometown. Had a blast with my friends there, it was one of the most memorable weekends of my life! 🙂

• Got this unimaginable bridesmaid hamper from my friend. It had things I never expected or planned to buy on my own. She made sure we got the BEST possible gifts on this planet and it made us feel extraordinarily special.

December

• For the first time ever, we got a Christmas tree home and had a ball decorating it. My mom casually told me her wish to get a Christmas tree home this year to celebrate the beautiful festival of Christmas and spread some much needed joy and positivity around. There were a lot of hiccups till the point of getting this tree home but we were blessed to get our wish fulfilled right before Christmas eve.

• Completed my second longest run of 2020, a freaking 25 kms in 2 hrs 54 mins!!! I honestly did not think I could attempt another long run after a hiatus of almost 6 months from running practice. This feat reinforced my faith in the phrase “IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT’S DONE“

And that’s it. I just don’t feel like bidding 2020 goodbye. I look forward to 2021 with hope and positivity as always.

Wishing you a very happy NEW year. May this year bring you more and more reasons to be HAPPY!

Be Fit : Milestone 3

The third milestone is here and I feel pretty happy with my efforts made for fitness in October. I managed to stick to a daily meditation and gratitude journaling routine which is something I had been struggling with a long time. I’m not focusing on the results from this routine at the moment. I am focusing on doing it consistently to make it a habit so that I can reap it’s benefits in the long term. My running schedule took a hit this month, I was pretty lazy. I have slept through the alarms each week and was pretty disappointed with myself. I tried to make up for it last weekend and was extremely happy to push my limits for a 7.7 km run on Saturday followed up by a 10 km run on Sunday. My goal is to be consistent with my running schedule in November.

Here are my achievements for this month :-

Weight :-

Starting weight (10th August) : 62.9 kgs

Milestone 1 (31st August) : 62.5 kgs (Lost 0.4 kgs)

Milestone 2 (1st October) : 61.4 kgs (Lost 1.1 kgs)

Milestone 3 (2nd November) : 60.5 kgs (Lost 0.9 kgs)

Workouts :-

I have been regular with my HIIT workouts/skipping routine during the weekdays however slacked off during the weekends.

Meditation :-

I tweaked up my meditation routine to do it first thing after I wake up in the morning. This has worked wonders for me as I haven’t skipped it even once for the past 25 days. I currently have a 25 day streak on Headspace and that makes me very happy.

Food :-

Although I ordered takeaways on many occasions, I am pretty satisfied with my food habits this month. Ever since I started meditation, I’ve noticed a slight decline in my food cravings and mindless eating habits which is great! My water intake has been up to the mark as well.

Key achievements :

• Ran twice outdoors, 7.68 kms in 52.38 mins on 31st October and 10.14 kms in 1.11.46 hrs on 1st November.

Goals for Milestone 4 (30th November):-

• Workout everyday
• No refined sugar
• Limited cheat meals (Fried, processed food)
• Rope skip every evening at least 200 times
• Attempt 10 push ups
• Run 5 kms on Saturday, 10 kms on Sunday every week
• Improve my running pace, 5 kms under 30 mins and 10 kms under 65 mins

See you until the next milestone!!

Always prepared

#93/100

“Thorough preparation makes its own luck.”

-Joe Poyer

I don’t have a long post today. It’s already the end of Sunday and I feel rather unaccomplished for wasting my just another weekend. I know I have the potential to achieve my goals yet I restrict myself most of the times to do my best. I had planned few things this weekend which included resuming my running sessions. I overslept, yet again. I also had a reading target in mind and watching few educational videos which I have been procrastinating on since ages. I don’t really know why I am unable to effectively manage my time everyday.

My current goal is to channel all my energy on developing effective time management skills. I desperately wish to accomplish this. The first 3 months of my weight loss journey in the year 2018 were the most productive time of my entire life. I managed to get a lot of work done in those 3 months and was extremely proud of my achievements back then. The only difference back then was a crazy determination to achieve my goal. I wish to get back to the same level of willpower and grit in my life to do well. Enough of lazing around.

Next week on Sunday, November 1st, is the last day of my 100 days challenge. I am thrilled to have reached this far. I wish to end it by challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone and work hard to upgrade to a better version of myself. Starting this very moment, I will use every ounce of my mental and physical strength to LEVEL UP!

Sugar please!

#85/100

I’m not really addicted to anything in life except of course overthinking, procrastination, laziness at times, staying inside my comfort zone and the list goes on. But we aren’t discussing these superficial addictions today. I’ve grown with a massive sweet tooth. There was a time when I could gulp down multiple bars of chocolate in one sitting (won’t state a number here, it still freaks me out!). It wasn’t because I had an appetite for it or I was hungry, my mind craved it in large quantities whenever it had to deal with any kind of negative emotions in life.

So what really is sugar?

Sugar in any form (natural or refined) is a source of carbohydrate. When consumed, our body converts it into glucose and uses it for energy. Natural sugar is found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and dairy. Refined sugar or table sugar is extracted from sugar cane plants or sugar beets. The sugar cane plants or sugar beets are washed, sliced and soaked in hot water to extract the sugary juice. The juice is filtered into syrup, further processed into sugar crystals by extracting molasses and undergoing a chemical refining process to give it the super white color.

What happens to the body when we consume sugar?

Natural sources of sugar contain other nutrients such a fiber in fruits or protein in dairy which slows down the digestion process and gives our body time to convert sugar into glucose. Refined sugar on the other hand is empty calorie devoid of any nutrients. When consumed, our body digests it in no time without making the stomach feel full. By the time we are full, the damage is already done as we end up consuming huge quantities of sugar. Once sugar passes through the blood stream, our pancreas secrete a hormone called insulin which is responsible for allowing the body to use glucose from blood for energy. When we consume large quantities of food containing refined sugar, our body metabolizes sugar quickly and causes a sudden spike of insulin and glucose. Depending on the amount of sugar already in the bloodstream, excess sugar is stored in body as fat (future source of energy).

Why does the mind crave sugar when we are stressed?

The reason behind this goes back to evolution. Food was a scarce commodity in the primitive times. Food, especially the sweet ones, owing to it’s high energy content triggers the pleasure point in our brain. When we eat sweet food, our brain neurons release a chemical called “dopamine” which activates the “reward system” in our mind signaling a positive event. As we eat sugar, our body also secretes the hormones called serotonin and endorphins which are associated with happiness.

So why should I stop eating sugar?

Below major ill effects are associated with excess consumption of artificial or refined sugar/ based products

• Weight gain leading to obesity
• Increased risk of heart ailments, Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver
• Speeds up skin and cellular aging process

How much is too much?

According to the World Health Organization, adults and children should limit their daily intake of added sugar (anything that isn’t naturally occurring such as fruits or vegetables) to 10% of the total energy intake. They also say that a further reduction to 5% or roughly 25 grams / 6 teaspoons per day will greatly benefit our health.

Sugar does give a huge surge of dopamine as opposed to fruits or vegetables leading to after lunch/dinner cravings. As the blood cells absorbs sugar, there’s a sudden drop in energy as well as the feel good element causing us to continue eating sugar to continue activating the reward system in our brain.

That was a lot of information! I’m not sharing this to scare you off from sweet food. I still prefer sweet over any savory food, hands down. We need to be aware of what we put inside our body before it starts controlling us and it’s too late to correct our mistakes. I’m trying everyday to switch to healthier options, eat more natural sources of sugar like fruits and vegetables. Jaggery is my savior, there’s also honey and coconut.

The body is our true life companion, let’s treat it well when we can so that it treats us well when we can’t! Knowing what the food we consume does to our body can be a good start to a healthier, fitter life!

An achiever

#73/100

“Success in life is not for those who run fast, but for those who keep running and always on the move.”

–Bangambiki Habyarimana

I was watching a clip of Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s new book launch promo today and she said something that instantly struck a chord with me. She wants to be a person who sets goals and achieves them. The second part of this sentence is what differentiates it from any other motivational pep talk. We are always taught to chase dreams, our goals and made to feel bad if we don’t achieve them. But we are never pushed to finish what we start. Having goals is great, but it makes no difference to your life if you don’t put consistent efforts on it. Like anything in life, there will be failures and setbacks. That’s when 99% of the crowd backs out. The 1% who continue, end up realizing their goals or learn enough skills to chase a different one.

Instead of being a person who sets big goals, I want to be a person who lives up to my word, no matter what. I have envisioned a dream life for myself, yet I delay working on it every single day. Rest is great, watching movies and shows are blissful, but they’ll seem much more sweeter and victorious if earned as a reward on achieving your goals.

Instead of a ‘doer’ mindset, I have adopted an ‘achiever’ mindset in life now. The difference between the two is the consistency of efforts for any task or goal in life. A doer always has ample time to complete their work, probably till the end of their life. An achiever, well, they are focused on achieving their targets in minimal time. After all, their main goal is to complete what’s started.

Let’s push ourselves harder and break the self imposed restrictions set by our mind. As we all know, we are much stronger than we think!