Intermittent Fasting and Whole30, continued discussion

My experiment with Intermittent Fasting (IF) and Whole30 ended last week (actually, it was a few weeks ago but I missed pushing the publish button on this post) and since then I have slowly reintroduced some food and I know some which are troublesome. If you haven’t read my reasons for this experiment, please refer to the previous post on this topic (here).

Here are some of the salient points from the last 30 days and then at the end is the day to day progression of thoughts as I adapted to the Whole30 approach of eating.

• If I were to do this combination of IF and whole 30 again, I’ll like eliminate dinner and push the eating window towards the early part of the day to better match my circadian rhythm.
•  I’ll eliminate nuts and seeds from the meal as well since they caused bloating and I relied too much on them for snack likely upping my caloric intake
•  Whole30 is a western approach to elimination diet and doesn’t truly match the understanding of eastern eating philosophies and were often in conflict. For e.g. in Indian eating patterns/culture, moong khichadi is Ayurveda approved and is considered a safe food that even folks recovering from a disease can eat but according to Whole30, all legumes and grains are restricted irrespective of their innate nature.
• The diet didn’t tell me anything new about my diet that I didn’t already knew, e.g., sensitivity to gluten, processed food or extracted sugar. I Need more digestive power/ enzymes (herbs and spices) to process high to digest foods.
• After these 30 days, I might just have given up artificial sweetener for life, I drink coffee black without sugar but now I drink tea without sugar or stevia and I’m okay with that.
• I’ll never go back to buying large quantities of processed food for my pantry, there is rare times when I have to lean of these shelf stable foods and if I don’t have them on hand I can definitely do without them.
• I’ll repeat this kind of elimination diet and instead of Whole30 recommended elimination, might remove red meat, all meat but include pulses and such. I think my gut biome favors the eastern style of eating more than the western foods. I think seasonal eating is a better approach for my body type.
• I’m sensitive to gluten but I’ll permit myself to eat gluten once a week and continue to work on my digestion to be stronger rather than give up homemade food that I grew up with.
• Whole30 is a diet approach for awareness but it doesn’t fix any health issues. I’m still dealing with my health issues with digestion, parasite infection and liver toxicity and need to continue practicing alternative medicine to find optimum health.
• I was hoping to lose 5 lbs. (weight that I gained over summer travels) but I only lost about 2 pounds. But in my friend’s case, she lost 12 pounds. I think it speaks more about my digestive health and less about the merits of the diet.
• I didn’t lose any inches that I can notice, still wearing same clothes with about same fit. The flat belly doesn’t last either, even on day when I just eat fruits and no grains or legumes.

Day-to-day break down

Day 1 - Just another day, feeling peachy

Day 2 - No sugar craving, just habitual reaching out to sweets and retracting my hands

Day 3 - A packets of spicy Cheetos with its guts laid bare tempted me but I reminded myself that I will not feel as light and happy if I ate that stuff.

Day 4 - Krishna Janamashtami fasting, many other food restrictions to even worry about Whole 30 approved food.

Day 5 - Good energy, clarity of thoughts. But at one time I had a strong craving for white rice, sesame seeds, avocado and salt. I tried to diagnose what deficiency in my body is making me crave it and if there is a whole 30 approved substitute for the nutrients my body is craving. I drooled thinking about it and then the moment passed.

Day 6 - I was eating a banana and I really wanted some cold milk with it, but instead I chose almond butter and I was over the hump. I'm realizing I need more sleep because I'm still feeling the late afternoon slump.

Day 7 - No particular food cravings, good energy in the morning but afternoon slump is a reality even today.

Day 8 - It’s hard to maintain Whole 30 when you are at your friends. A little bit of goat cheese sneaked in my otherwise kosher salad dressing and I found out after I had already eaten it. No, I'm not planning to restart the 30-day countdown.

Guess what, that afternoon slump was may be caused by too much fruit and not enough protein for lunch/ afternoon snack. Forgot my fruits at home today and no afternoon slump.

Day 9 - It’s hard to maintain whole 30 when going to a restaurant. Today a little bit of mayo sneaked in my coconut and wasabi dressing with my poke salad. Also, if there was a parasite that was responsible for my sugar cravings, it is dormant or perhaps its muscle memory to forego sugar at this time.

Day 10 - I feel some body re-composition happening, not necessarily better fitting clothes but just different. I'm tempted to jump on the scale but trying to resist, afraid that the transformation might not be reflected on a weighing machine number.

Day 11 – Saturday is hard with all the sports activities and not being able to eat with the rest of the family on the go.

Day 12 – Ate a protein style no cheese burger, that didn’t satiate my hunger.

Day 13 - Long weekend on Whole 30 when the rest of the family is not is very tough

Day 14 – We are vegetarians on Tuesday and rely on legumes and beans for dinner protein, needless to reiterate, it’s hard to adhere to a lot of limitations. Ate a couple boiled eggs.

Day 15 - I weighed myself, I know it’s against the rule, but I was looking for a quick reinforcement that I’m on the right path. It was not a good idea, I have gained a pound after 15 days on this elimination diet.

Day 16 - I wanna give up this restricted way of life so bad. I'm fatigued, I just wanna have some spicy miso soup with udon noodles and pork katsu.

Day 17 – Went to my friend’s son’s birthday party and had no issues saying no to chocolate cake. Just drank water and it didn’t even once occur to me that I was depriving myself. Small victory!

Day 18 – Just another day, so used to saying no to the snacks that the rest of the family is eating and going for a fruit instead

Day 19 – My fruit consumption has sky rocketed, I always eat a ton of veggies but so much fruit is new for my body. My body has lost its insulin sensitivity, so this amount of fruit might not be good in the long run.

Day 20 – Today is a turning point, I have energy and I burst into a jog when I was only out for a walk

Day 21 – Afternoon slump after lunch is still an ongoing issue, carbs/sugar from the fruit could be adding to the sugar crash

Day 22 – Eating too much of Almond butter, especially in the afternoon. Don’t need any chocolate with it or any extracted/artificial sugar for that matter.

Day 23 – My friend told me that she lost 12 pounds in 30 days on Whole30. It is giving me cautious hope but there’s an end in sight to this restricted eating.

Day 24 – I’m feeling very light and not bloated at all but not sure if this feeling would last if I deviate from the plan even for a single day.

Day 25 – Very indifferent to the food choices now. My body and ‘mind’ have adapted to this new way of eating and I can go on like this forever

Day 26 – The rest of the family is very excited that I’ll be off this plan soon. They are planning for me which food should they introduce back in my diet first

Day 27 – My half marathon training is suffering since I don’t have the endurance to go past 5-6 miles on my long runs

Day 28 – If I don’t have to push myself too hard physically, days go on like a breeze and I don’t even notice the passage of time

Day 29 – Didn’t realize that its already day 29th, I didn’t consider the 31st day of August and assumed I still have a little longer to go.

Day 30 – Tomorrow I eat yogurt whether I have lost a pound or not

I'll talk about some of the holistic approach that I'm pursuing for my health and wellness in upcoming posts. Post a comment to share your interest or experience.

Connect - Word of the year 2019

Three quarters of the year 2019 are almost behind us and it seems like a little late to be introducing ‘Connect’ my word of the year. But as they say, better late than never.

Besides, there are things happening in my life and provoking thoughts as a direct consequence of choosing this word that it seems like a good time to talk about it. And perhaps, I have a perspective to share now that might have been very different at the beginning of the year.

A bit of a general thought, I’ve been choosing Word of the year since 2007 and even if I decide that I won’t choose a “word of the year”, I invariably do. At the very least, it sets an intention for the year, makes you aware of your thoughts, brings perspective to the abundance or lack of the word (intention) in your own world (quite a mouthful there).

And for a believer like me, I think more than just bringing my awareness to situations, the universe creates and attracts circumstances and draws me closer to what I truly need with the intentions I set for the year.

My intention for setting this intention was to build a community, feel like I belong and feel more connected to fellow humans that I share this journey with. Mostly the horizontal connections… I took a few initiatives to feel more connected; I reached out to people with similar interests, I went on more walks and more coffee dates. There were a couple initiatives that I shared/ started on social media, both of them related to my fondness for the six-yard unstitched fabric – the saree. I organized local meet ups for women who love to wear sarees.

And I started an Instagram group for building sisterhood around a traveling saree very much based on the movie ‘The sisterhood of the traveling pants saree’.

Here’s what I wrote on my Instagram post:   

Have you seen the movie- the sisterhood of the traveling pants... it’s about teen girls finding comfort and support in their friendships. I was watching the movie and realized that the craving for sisterhood and support and the longing to belong that the teens in the movie were seeking exists even when we get older.

With that intention, I decided to share my saree and sisterhood strength with Ramya and all others who’d like to join the sisterhood. #sisterhoodofthetravelingsaree

The intention of the sisterhood is that the collective feminine power will bring us what we desire and most need at this juncture in life.

Please let me know if you’d like to join and follow the tag to see who is contributing to the sisterhood before you. If my saree is taking it too long to reach you please reach out to others who might want to become your support system and start another #sisterhoodofthetravelingsaree in your community, in your family, among your friends (real or virtual). If you don’t wear saree, share a t-shirt, a dupatta, a bracelet whatever binds you into sisterhood.

And talking about sisterhood, why leave the men out they probably need the support of the feminine energy the most and an avenue to express their solidarity.

Whatever it takes, sisterhood, brotherhood, a saree or a bracelet or just a prayer, please reach out, support and be supported in turn, now is the time... Please tag #sisterhoodofthetravelingsaree so we can follow you and see how you are bonding and how your common intentions are bringing us all together.

Like I've said before, I set intentions, but I don’t get to determine the path, often universe sends me what I need at the moment and although my word ‘Connect’ was for my horizontal connections, strengthening vertical connection was part of the divine plan.

I was thinking about doing a 100-day project, but I wasn’t sure if the time was right to commit to something too time-consuming since my plate was full and was going to get worse in May and June. The 100 Day project kicks off in early April.
So, I kept it simple and my target was, one month of self-care through at least 5 minutes of daily meditation. I was easily able to manage that, and I continued it for May and most of June as well. Most days my meditation sessions were more than 10 minutes but there were days when I needed to squeeze in my meditation in the car at a parking lot while waiting for kids at their activities. I managed a 90+ day track record but then travel schedules upset it and I didn’t quite make it to the 100^th day, not a very good track record there.

I came back from vacation and slowly settled into a routine and I was missing meditation, and this time I knew that I wanted something deeper, something more guided to continue on this journey. I joined a local group for just that purpose, my vertical connection and my inward journey and guess what, found a bunch of people on that exact same journey and a community formed around our practice. I’ll talk more about the program once I’m a little more experienced with it but needless to say, the word ‘Connect’ is leading me on journeys that I didn’t plan for. And as soon as I think I have figured it out, it changes again, just like life itself.

So, the journey continues- inward, outward, vertical, horizontal and sometimes it sits still within me and those are the most precious of moments.

And as I mentioned in the beginning about sharing about my word in the 9^th month of the year gives me a unique perspective that I didn’t have at the beginning of the year, well, looking back at my list I realized that I had chosen this word – ‘connect’ for 2014 as well and had I written about it at the beginning of the year, I would have been very tempted to change it but I’m glad I didn’t and even though the word is a repeat the journey is as different as day and night.

Is there a Whole30 friendly Latte?

I have been searching high and low for a milk style beverage- coconut milk or almond milk for making lattes at home or even add some to my afternoon coffees.

All the non-diary beverages have soy lecithin, guar gum, carrageenan or some other unpronounceable ingredient to make the consistency of the beverage closest to that of milk.

I didn’t buy any of those to keep in my fridge but instead told myself to make almond milk at home, in my own kitchen if I’m so inclined. So far, my craving for a milk-like product hasn’t inspired me enough to put in the extra work.

Are you wondering the purpose of this post yet? I'm not sure there is one.

I was having a rough day yesterday and needed a pick me up in the afternoon. I decided that I’ll walk to the nearby Starbucks and get myself a non-dairy latte made with all those unpronounceable ingredients even if they are not Whole 30 approved. I asked my barista to make a tall (8oz) non-dairy latte with unsweetened coconut milk. The beverage I got was a little too sweet to be unsweetened.

I asked to check the box and found that both coconut milk and almond milk had cane sugar in them along with all the other ingredients that I possibly shouldn’t be eating. The box in big letters said “unflavored” and the barista(s) (yes multiple baristas) took it as no sugar added and were annoyed that I want to look at the ingredients and didn’t take their word on face value. I stood at the counter for a solid 1 minute and it felt everything like the 1-minute counter on the microwave when you are in a rush to get to the next thing.

Yep! It was a very slow 1 minute.

And then (insert climatic music of your choice), I decided to take that coconut milk latte, walk to the park, sit on a bench and enjoy it.  

Am I going to do over the last 15 days, no I don’t think so.

Am I going to give up on Whole 30, nope, nada! 

Am I still looking for the perfect non-dairy beverage, you betcha.  

Do I know the first food I’d like to introduce back in my diet at the end of 30 day, yes it would be dairy.

Intermittent Fasting and Whole30 – Part II

This brief post is to share the combination of the IF and whole30 protocol that I’ll be follow during the 30-day experiment. If you don’t know the reason why I’m following on this path, please read the first post of the topic (here).

I have Melissa Urban’s book on my best side table and I looked at the recommended food list and shopping list to decide how I want to follow this plan. Since I’m eating in an 8-hour window on most days, I cannot follow the time guidelines of eating within an hour of waking up and eat every 4-5-hour pattern. I clean fast with just black coffee and water, no MCT oil or amino in my coffee.

Combined Intermittent Fasting and Whole 30 protocol        Fast at least 16 hours in every 24 hours, eat within 8 hours window

•          Break fast with three stalks of celery blended with a cup of water (in lieu of making celery juice and loosing the fiber)
•          Drink black coffee as needed
•         Eat a Whole30 approved light lunch/ afternoon snack (that celery blend is going to fill you up)
•         No dairy makes it hard to drink chai in the evening with family so if schedule permits, drink a cup of green tea and avoid the tea time snacks
•          Dinner is salad or grilled vegetables with lean meat or fish, mostly grilled

I have been following this for a week and so far, its been working alright. I’ll share daily cravings, energy levels and overall changes at the end of 30 days. Whole 30 requires that we put away the scale and tape measure and don’t track it till the end of the program since it’s a health regimen and not a weight loss plan.
I forgot to take weight or measurement at the beginning of this but have a general idea about where I stand and how my clothes feel so at the end of the month it would probably be a qualitative assessment and not a quantitative one.

Intermittent Fasting and Whole30 - together

I have been doing Intermittent Fasting (IF) for about a year now and just decided to combine it with Whole30; reasons coming up a little later in the post. When I decided to take the Whole30 approach while doing IF, I didn’t come across many concrete reasons for why I should or shouldn’t combine these two approaches to eating food or any examples for that matter, so I decided to document my eating journey to share some perspective; although with a sample size of one, it would be anecdotal.

I gained an unexplained amount of weight during the process of our potential move, at the time, to California within a short period of time. Now looking back, I know it was stress and cortisol levels in the body but bear with me as I walk you through my story.

My first health checkup in California revealed that I’m pre-diabetic with high cholesterol numbers and with BMI pushing me into Overweight category. Not that I needed a doctor or any tests to tell me that latter diagnosis. So, to make good use of my sabbatical, I revved up my exercise and coffee routine to no avail.

I joined a health program recommended by the doctor to learn how and what to eat that pretty much restricted me at 1200 kCal per day along with a lousy telephone-based support system. After my six weeks on the program when the needle on the scale didn’t move in the desired direction, I called the support line and rediscovered they were pretty lousy – the female voice on the other end of the line told me, I’m too impatient. I was so emotionally disturbed to get that response from a fellow female and supposedly a nutritionist that I forgot to call her names and yell at her before disconnecting the line.

I wasn’t ready to give up, so I decided to go for one of those basal metabolic rate test that required me to give up coffee, alcohol and exercise for 24-48 hours. Basically, everything I was surviving on after the phone conversation mentioned above. And if you are beginning to judge me, my alcohol consumption was within the daily 1200 calories limit. The test told me that my metabolic rate was so low that it was off the charts, the technician couldn’t map it and had to extend the graph line to tell me that I only need 700-800 kCal each day to survive. And so understandably, my 1200 kCal with three Zumba classes a day was barely keeping me at a steady weight and if I decided to skip an exercise class and go for a latte then all those liquid and well documented calories stayed comfortably on my love handles. The only benefit of this test was to confirm that, one, I wasn’t impatient and two, the ‘above-mentioned’ nutritionist cheated on her certification exams.

Fast forward a couple months; with continued workouts, a Bollywood dance class and a few episodes of emotional eating later - I was still at my heaviest weight ever and that is counting those times when there was a baby growing inside me. I stopped dancing and started running but that is a conversation for a whole another post. I even dedicated an entire year to staying ‘Active’ – my word of the year 2018, joined a running group, ran half-marathons, 5k and 10k but situation didn’t improve significantly.

That is, until I came across this concept of ‘intermittent fasting’. I started that last year August around this same time and for the first time started seeing the needle move in the desired direction. I averaged 16 hour fasts and ate within an 8-hour window, some days the fasting window is longer and a few days when I am traveling with family, the fasting window gets shorter. I lost a few pounds and plateaued but being the patient person I am, I continued with it. IF is a good program for insulin sensitivity, metabolic disorder, gut health issues, digestion but not so much for hormonal issues or for that matter parasites either. If there is an underlying issue that remains unaddressed, its is very difficult to heal completely no matter how good a program might be.

I saw my health deteriorate, possibly due to the toxins being released in my body from the stored fat sources. My liver couldn’t process the toxins, my adrenals were fatigued, I had a lot of water retention specially after my long practice runs… overall indication, I had to change something.

I intuitively knew that gluten is not a friend but couldn’t give up roti (whole wheat unleavened flat bread) although I did give up refined flour, sugar and rice for the longest time , kidding that long time was only in my mind; it wasn’t very long, only 2-3 months at a time with all the temptations around. DH started making whole wheat sourdough bread at home, so I can still eat bread. And then there was a new banh-mi sandwich place close to home that made the most delicious after-hiking food. Also, there were Indian sweets to be consumed and new recipes to be tried and parties to be hosted and festivals to be celebrated. Long story short, I needed a regimented food elimination diet and whole 30 fit the bill.

So, here I am deciding to continue with IF protocol while eating Whole 30 recommended foods. When I started documenting these thoughts, it was meant to be a single post with short introduction followed by my 30-day journey and a conclusion. Clearly, I’m not a woman with few words and the 30 days are yet to be documented. So, before I add many more words, let me just conclude by saying -

To be continued…

Vulnerability and Authenticity...

I have a badge on my blog sidebar that proclaims that I choose 'Authenticity'…
Before I carry on, this post has been in the making for quite sometime and may turn into ramblings although I'll try my best to keep it to the point.

Ever since I discovered the work of Brene Brown, I have constantly strived to be authentic in all my interactions, including those with my little kids and my life partner and even at work. And to say that it was a constant struggle to stay vulnerable and honest, is to put it mildly.
But this last year has been the epicenter of it all, and I struggled to stay honest even to myself and I denied myself the compassion that I so badly needed.

Yam + Niyam and Yog…

December, last month of the year… time to look back and reflect on the year that's coming to an end, a mile marker to take an account of all that we braved and accomplished this year. My word for this year was 'Forged' and I did forge ahead in many aspects of my life.
Biggest one being the challenge to take a sabbatical from my day-job as a bridge design engineer and try living in California, going back to school and being a stay at home mom.
It has been an interesting journey this last few months and has given me a lot of time for self reflection and it was interesting that as I was faced with new challenges, I dug deeper into my roots to find my strength.

Book Review: The Body Book by Cameron Diaz

Its been a while since I wrote a book review. I was reading the Harry Potter series and trying my best to keep ahead of my 10 year old. Finished the series and absolutely loved it… since there is so much written about the series already that I won't be writing review about them.

Now coming back to The Body Book by  Cameron Diaz
This book was a wonderful refresher course about taking care of your body, everything from your middle school science class, biological terms, how cells and organs function to evolution theory along with a giant conglomeration of all the fitness article written in a lifetime supply of health magazines.
Once you have read this, you have got it all.

Disappointed in FitBit

I'm sorry for a very straightforward verdict rather than the usual pros and cons and letting you make up your mind. But that is how strongly I feel about it.
It was the first day of recording 'a week in my life' back in end of october when I snapped on fit-bit for the very first time and was very disappointed to find out that it is nothing but a pedometer on a wrist band which is connected to an app on my phone.

Yoga studio...

A couple of weeks ago DH bought me a membership at the local yoga studio and just one class into it and I realized how much I was missing yoga. My regular yoga practice has dropped down to about once a week and after that when I sank my shoulder blades into a downward facing dog two days in a row; it reminded me how rare my upper body routine has been for past few months.

Last year when I encountered IT band pain due to lack of stretching and sporadic but longer runs, I joined Bikram Yoga classes for a few weeks. It is yoga practiced in hot (105F) and humid room to stimulate the weather condition of west Bengal India where the founder of Bikram yoga belongs too. The heat helps open up the joints and sweat releases impurities and those classes helped me relax my hip joint, outer thigh muscles.

Fast forward to now, I am back at following the routine, at least 4 times week and it does get challenging with a full time job that leaves only evenings for taking group classes but so far I managed fine. My current yoga studio offers ‘Hot yoga’ similar to above mentioned and it is best detox anyone can wish for. The poses are a gentle series of 26; and focus a lot on building the core and rediscovering the balance, something all of us can use in a rushed fast paced modern lifestyle.
With the frequent visits to the yoga studio and trying to up my running mileage, I have figured that ‘pigeon pose’ is the best to open up the hip joint and to find the much needed relaxation for the IT band pain. There is a certain excitement in the contradiction that lets you passively sink into a pose and allows the body to dictate the severity of the workout. After the lingering stretch, there is a meditative quality to feeling the sensation of muscles rather than jerking it back to the active lifestyle.
I am enjoying both styles of yoga, the series of active poses and also the passively pleasure of sinking into that pose rather than forcing it; mostly based on the day I had that led to the class. Something that my yoga teacher said that stuck with me was that, ‘body is part of nature and it will follow its own course, just like you can’t force the petals of a bud to rush it into bloom you can push your body without jeopardizing its wellbeing’.
That said I love my Barre body classes as well. It pushes you to hold small muscle groups that you didn’t know existed into active poses which gives fast results. After the first few classes, I swear if I had just followed the fatigue lines and drew over them, I could have developed my own personal muscle diagram.
I haven’t lost any weight in these last two weeks but I can feel that I am walking taller and the pants are fitting better….

100 miles – Yup, I did it

It was sometime in October that I decided to run a total of 100 miles before my birthday on Christmas Eve. At the time my decision was just a way of getting back into the routine of running and averaged to about a little less than 1.25 miles each day.


There were a lot of things going on in October, including performing on stage twice which also required stage practice on each occasion, Navratri (9 day festival to celebrate goddess of Power and I fast for 8 of the 9 days), Diwali, Mum- Dad’s return from Seattle and a few other things. All the busy-ness boiled down to a whooping single digit, 2 miles total run for the October month.

November was a little less busy but hectic nonetheless. After Mum-Dad left for India, our friends from Colorado visited us for a few days, after that I seriously started the running ritual. I ran as often as the juggle called life permitted and just added 35+ miles to my record.

Before I go on with my saga, this chart will explain how challenges motivate and me and while it was a hard target to meet, I managed to beat it by a day.

When December rolled in and I was still 60+ miles away from my goal, a part of my brain felt that I can probably not make it and automatically assigned a few extra days by increasing the deadline to New Year’s Eve. Here’s where the fascinating facet of human nature shines through and I have yet to fully understand it but there was another part of my brain that took it as a challenge and refused to accept any excuses. I think it was this particular part of the brain that helped me finish my 5K early in May as I said in this post: Thankful for you, my body

I love challenges and it was amazing to see two parts of my brain fighting against each other. Actually only one was fighting; the other just extended the deadline and lay passive. I told a few people about my goal and also mention it here on my blog but there was no one that would care to remember it let alone hold me accountable, so slipping was easy. My passive brain kept telling me that it’s okay to take a little extra time as long as you get to your target that what matters in the end anyways. And against the gentlest persuasion of my passive brain, my body ran and ran.

Most runs were acceptable and mostly ran to the beat of 'podrunner podcast' but there were some awfully slow on extremely tired days and my ears pressed against the distraction of an Audio book or eyes peeled to bollywood movie, I kept on marching and to the end I have come. I am proud of myself for taking on the challenge and meeting it too… I managed a few slow 10Ks which is my goal for next year but it was good to get a head start on it this year and I can now improve upon my speed as the New Year rolls in.

Happy and Content…

Ultra Simple Diet

I am ‘Life is short, stay awake for it’ kind of girl. Yup that meant guzzling multiple cups of coffee with extra shots to keep me going. But this (Ultra simple Diet) diet made me realized that I don’t need tumblers of caffeine to keep me awake. And also that when my body needs rest, I should allow it to rest and not push it against a wall till it collapses, which is my usual style of living.


Trust me, I have had my share of fad diets, but for past few years I had mostly resorted to eating healthy and balanced meals with little portions of just about everything, there was no forbidden food. And I did lose all my baby weight in due course just by monitoring the quantity of food and working out but recently I struggled to find the optimum balance and so when my friend recommended this diet, I got a copy of the book from the library. I was skeptical first but what encouraged me to try it was my bad skin allergic reaction from earlier this summer. All my doctor could prescribe was steroids to keep allergic reaction down and Benadryl to sleep when the steroid made me all wired up. Of course, I didn’t follow the entire medication course and started experimenting with food, wine and caffeine and soap & lotions. It was tough to figure out what caused it since the allergen made me photo sensitive (which I realized later) and so as long as I minimized the exposure to sun the reaction was somewhat under control. I studied the above mentioned diet book for almost 3 weeks before I committed to it.

Anyways, long story short, I thought if there are any toxins or allergens in my diet that is causing inflammation and adding to the toxicity levels, I should be able to figure it out. This diet recommends a self-assessment of the body toxicity levels based on a score of questions as a gauge for improvement while on the diet. My toxicity levels were not alarming at all but I decided to go on the diet anyways.

In short, this diet teaches you to eat sensibly with more thought to what you are eating and since we all run short on time to actually think about our food, let alone plan it a week in advance it was a good exercise.

Highlights:

It warranted no use of alcohol or caffeine, along with no dairy to reduce the toxins and inflammation causing agents.

It focuses on eating good quantity of vegetables, two cups at each meal time along with vegetable broth to curb hunger pangs.

It included proteins, 4 oz of beans/fish/chicken breasts for lunch and dinner along with protein powder in the breakfast shakes.

The diet recommends good fats through olive oil for cooking and nuts for snacks and also flaxseeds and borage oil.

The carbs came from beans, fruits (berries in particular that are low glycemic index), vegetables and half cup of brown rice at each meal time.

My customizations (and cravings):

The diet calls for only certain vegetables but because summer is short in these parts of the world, I ate everything that was available fresh in the famers market including tomatoes, cucumber and eggplants.

I used a lot of spices including cloves, cinnamon, ginger, garlic etc to keep my food flavorful despite the repetitive menu.

The diet calls only for Rice Protein powder but I occasional used soy and whey protein powder too.

Although I stayed off caffeine and alcohol, DH continued with his morning coffee and occasional glass of wine and the diet still worked (controlled sugar levels) for him.

I missed not eating dark chocolate, cereal milk and yogurt terribly. I did eat Soy yogurt but it’s not the same thing.

The diet claims that you stop missing the sweets after the first couple days of initial body adjustment but I continued to miss it throughout my diet.

My energy levels weren’t as high as the book and my friend claimed it to be, I crashed at about 4:00pm every single day and I found myself quieter than usual on this diet.

The diet calls for moderate exercise but with my body type, I need to sweat to burn fat and so I noticed that the weighing scale registered weight loss only on days when I worked out.

It called for 2- 20 minute yoga sessions, a 20 minute bath at the end of the day and a good 8 hour sleep; well there were days when I had to choose between activities to decide how I’d spent my precious 20 minutes. But I did rediscover lavender baths/ shower and the importance of yoga in my life.

All in all, I like this diet and would very much go on it again and more importantly I gained a new perspective and even though I am not on a diet anymore, I don’t eat more than 4oz protein in a meal, because now I know I don’t need more. Like I said it was a good exercise to gauge what your body truly needs and what is just greed. And inspired by my newly gained healthy perspective I have challenged myself to run a total of 100 miles before my birthday. (I guess I did say that out loud, may be that’ll make me more accountable, just may be…)

And just because a post without pictures makes it boring, here's two from our visit to the local Arboretum

Kids at the fountain

Picnic under the Magnolia tree

Eat less + Shop less = Sustained Happiness

Or so I think cause I have yet to find it.

When I say eat less, I don’t mean to restrict my calorie intake to 1500 calories a day or to vow to never indulge in desert again, all I mean is that I should stop eating when the walls of my stomach start to stretch on the same lines as they did four years ago when there was a 8 pound baby inside my body. Or perhaps I should not force a bowl of ice cream to find its own way inside my tummy after each square inch has already been occupied by the delicious multi course dinner. Or I should suggest myself using restraint while ordering a whole milk Grande latte right after a big meal just so that I can keep myself awake for the drive home.

There’s absolutely no problem in doing that cause my body or for that matter any human body is perfectly capable of dealing with abuse we entrench them with except that every trip to the closet to find something suitable to wear turns into a tear jerking epic. All the lip smacking, drool generating, sensory indulgent, high calorie meal journeys result in the slight bulge at the mid section and of course those slight bulges over time have a tendency to transform into a little extra which is addressed by several names: love handle, a tire or muffin top …etc (take your pick), which don’t like to be contained inside a belt with buttons or zippers and rebelliously stand out even in the perfect black dress that used to fit just fine.

My most favorite dress out of the ones that still fit me now joins the club with the rest of ‘when I am – pounds lighter’. I left the # of pounds blank because there are several categories of piles. For when I am 5 pounds less, I’ll wear this and when I am 10 pounds, I wear that and then if I ever manage to get back to where I was 2 years ago, I will wear all those. Yup, you got the picture; I can pretty much create a parallel closet full of these so called incentive clothes and these don’t include the ones that I have yet to buy and are neatly tucked away in a picture form in an inspiration folder.

It is so frustrating to look at a fashion magazine and find out all the latest trends that would look good on you if only you were one size smaller.

Never mind, so I switched my magazine subscription to home design, thank goodness my home doesn’t shrink and expand every holiday season and I can create the perfect décor that will fit all the time.

Really all the time, or till the next issue is delivered to my mail box; because the moment I lay my eyes on the new issue, my most updated décor from last month with not be hip anymore and I shouldn’t even bother opening that paint cans for the new powder room décor as it was based on the issue two months ago. I feel so outdated already.

You know what I am not even going to worry about these trends in home and fashion, I learnt that they are just hypes created to make people buy more stuff and keep the economy afloat, there is no point following any trends and making any fashion statements. I forbid them from my life and find rescue in the yoga magazine, this times it’s not a subscription, I was prudent I got it from the library because that’s what yoga is all about, focusing inwards and finding a balance within, physically and mentally. As I flipped through the first 10 or so pages of the yoga magazine, I realized that this magazine could teach the wandering Indian yogis a thing or two about the yoga life style. They would know based on their personality type, which yoga mat to buy and which yoga shorts would not ride up their thighs when they are doing an intensive ‘surya namskaar’ routine. Or what organic jewelry they can wear as they struggle to balance their bodies on their heads. To be fair, their articles are fine; it’s only their advertising that bothers me.

And that brings me to my inference from the journey with the media and the inspiration that comes and goes with it. I haven’t actively followed any news article in a long time and yes it has put me in many awkward situations in small conversations for not knowing exactly the number of people died in a certain natural calamity or something like that. I’ll write more about my reasons to not follow news but for now I’d say I don’t want to lose sleep over issues I have no control over, I’d rather do something to help than to follow news update.

And now I put most magazines into the same category, very few articles are unbiased and share a design philosophy, most follow trends and what this or that famous designer did. I’d rather meet the artists, talk to the designers, read design books than to blindly follow trends. I’d make my own mistakes and find my own balance and in turn the happiness rather than copy a perfect room (or dress) from someone else’s life into my own home.

So I guess if I do follow my own instinct rather than an inspiration from trendy magazine I’ll be calmer and happier in the long run…

If it works, stick with it...

We often take things for granted, if its mine its bound to be ordinary, it was only special till it was beyond my reach. And when we loose those same ordinary things that we depended on so much, we miss them terribly. As you'll read towards the end of the post the thought that started this series of thinking was also very ordinary run of the mill but because it provoked so much more within the grey cells may be it was more than that...

As we first step out of the house, for pre-school/ kindergarten, our parents and then teachers and then the society teaches us to work in the group, adjust with others, don't boast your own self, be considerate. I was one of those kids that took a long time to adjust to the fact that once I left my parents home, I was not a princess anymore. I was bossy and imposing and although I have tempered a bit, I haven't changed much. So, I assume, all kids must go through this phase where they realize that they are not special anymore, the best student of the class, he/she is the best and we should all try to be like him/her because of course, he/she gets good grades, awards, praises, everything.
Then we take our focus away from that best person because it too tough to be the best and remain there, so we form peer groups among other similarly emotionally inclined creature who also happen to be in the same dilemma of the impending adolescent. The effect, the pressure, the image we identify with continues to grow with the confusion and the peers that often surround us. Pretty soon, the fog lifts and we find ourselves amidst responsibilities and having to fetch our own path, our own ideal; something that we forgot to create because there was nothing special in us, it was always that other smarter kid that we followed and looked up to.
So we continue looking for that smarter kid to follow; and in the modern times more often than not its a media personality or icon. Hair like that, body like this, home like that, car like this...

We keep looking for that perfect image that we can follow, and in our exhaustion and confusion the life continues, like a blur, a self inflicted fog which we are afraid to lift because we might discover ourself. And we are not the prince/princess anymore, we are that other person who is left out and is not perfect. A compliment from someone else seem like a sly joke, well because I am a nobody, till of course the advertisement on the back of the magazine tells me that 'I am worth it'.

Wouldn't it be so wonderful if we weren't told to curb our personality and were given the opportunity to explore and discover ourself. My parents love me because of who I am and not because I am a size 2 and look good in a bikini. My parents don't love the engineer in me, the cook, the perfect house-keeper, they just love me and have loved me long before I became any of that, who I identify myself as.
So, there is a connection somewhere that is severed. Growing up the mind got the signals to be and to follow that perfection that is never achieved. And now its media, magazines, newspapers all telling me how should I look, what should be the length of my skirt and the thickness of the heels of my shoes and the color of the walls of my bedroom.
Where is my consent, my priority, what do I like, what makes me happy? Do I even know the line where my happiness is because I am complying and others approve of it ends and my personal freedom starts. Do we ever sit long enough to truly understand our own happiness?

I have been thinking a lot about how media influences me and I am trying to stay away from popular culture, sensational news that I have no control over, just for the sanity of my mind. But I find the same things everywhere, fashion magazine, catalogs, home decor, they all are trying to mold me into something that they perceive as perfection. And who are they, followers of a few who failed to conform to the rules of the society to begin with. Who perhaps are a little less convoluted in there minds about their own identity. There must be some who feel good in there own skin and can embrace their own uniqueness.

The quote from Marianne Williamson in the movie 'Akeela and the Bee
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 


Hence, my topic for the post, we all discover little things in our life that work for us but because we have it, we tend to discount it and negate it and often loose it; only to realize how well it worked for us, with us. I rediscovered yoga after about 6-7 months. I had misplaced the yoga DVD during the move and never missed it, that is, till all my experiments to stay fit were lost on me and I did need to go back to something tried and tested. It took an hour to look for my DVDs and now I am back on my track, I realized how effective it is and how much I took it for granted. But now I know, if it works stick with it. Not everything else works as well... told you it was silly thing that generated the whole series of thoughts.

My first 5K

I have run 5K on my treadmill and around the neighborhood many times since last September but there was some anticipation in doing it so with thousands of other people.
I first started to train with the goal of Reindeer Run sponsored by Lifetime fitness in December but it fell on the same day as Somu’s fifth birthday party so I let it pass. This year as spring was approaching and I needed a goal to get me back on track and keep me motivated. I was a little hesitant but then I saw this email from a co-worker who was organizing a team to run together at the Susan G. Komen 5K and I knew it a sign… I believe big time in signs, everything happens for a reason. So, I registered as a part of capital co-worker’s team.
I trained mostly at work and on tread mill, I think I just one run per week that was outside of the house and my cellphone gauge said that I was doing alright but I did not know how I would perform at an organized event and with other people around, if I’d slow down or start walking, I couldn’t recall how I did when I ran alone and the uncertainty about my own capabilities helped me set a modest goal; I just want to run all the way.
I didn’t have a stop watch but my watch with needles suggests that I took about 34-35 minutes to finish it, a lousy number by a runners account but I am still proud that I did it and when I was done I wasn’t falling apart, I had plenty of reserve left and happy.

It was in high thirties when I left home that morning, I dressed in layers. It was my first time running in that low a temperature. I wanted to eat an egg and toast before I left but didn’t have enough time so I ended adding a scoop of protein powder to my morning milk coffee. I ran pretty okay, at about 2.5 miles I was ready to slow down but the cheer group said only half mile to go and that motivated me. The other reason that I kept me going was a new friend that I made that morning, her name is Jennifer. She was used to running much faster and shorter distances so her goal was to pace the race to last the entire distance. We started running together and I didn’t wanna loose myself in the midst of as sea of people so I kept up with her. After I was done with the race we stood in line for water before heading over to the gathering point to meet with the rest of our team.

We all did something new that day, some ran fast, some ran slow, some took longer strides and some didn’t need to use their Asthma puffs; It was amazing to see those sea of people and their supports, people raising awareness by wearing bra on top of their clothes, some survivors who had to get their breasts removed hung milk bottles around their neck to make a mockery the over-rated organ and to laugh in the face of life… it was eye-opening.
I guess when you suffer the pain you lose many inhibitions, like my friend from Congo was telling about a girl who managed to climb over a 12ft wall topped with broken glass all naked just so that she is not mutilated and raped by the militia. It is scary the kind of pain that humans are capable of inflicting on each other but it’s amazing to witness the resilience of the human race at an event like this, it reinforces the inherit belief in the goodness of human soul.

I went home and made pancakes with the girls but then right after the shower I was hit with my usual terrible migraine headache and I spent the rest of the day in bed. It wasn’t until 5 in the evening that I could keep the food down and during the pains I kept praying, God if you don’t want me to go to the art museum with the kids I will not go but please take the pain away. Now that I look back I think it was good that I spent that day in bed and sleeping and I also know that I would have been able to relax if I didn’t have that headache I would have ended up working on one thing or the other so that horrible pain was what God had to give me to pin me to bed… and I am thankful for that too.

More Later…

Gentle Persistence

I am taking Hatha Yoga classes during summer while my dance school is on a summer break. I have done yoga for a long time and there have been long stretches where I didn’t do it but I started when I was in elementary school (as part of the school curriculum) and the good thing is even if my mind forgets it sometimes, the body remembers. After a few initial tugs and pulls, the body goes back to its usual ductile self.
It also gives my mind some stability which has been giving me a hard time lately, I don’t think I am loosing it but I am not hanging on to it very tight either… Will write about that some other time for now it’s about Yoga.
It’s a good activity for me and my girls get involved too. Somu learns yoga at school and so its fun when she shows me different poses. One day, she during butterfly pose, she asked me what kind of butterfly am I and what color and it was interesting to think like that. I love butterflies and draw a lot of inspiration from them but never thought about the kind of butterfly I’d like to be. Divi also just loves to join in and see if she can stretch her legs and how far she can go…

So, every Saturday after Yoga class and when my mind is all tranquil after the meditation session, one thing or the other pops up as an inspiration and it sort of conditions my mind and my general attitude. This week’s Mantra is ‘gentle persistence’. Its reference was made in terms yoga practice and how to achieve balance and just to be able to do some poses but I think it’s equally applicable in life… gentle persistence can go a long way; with people, with work, with my goals (if there are any), just training my mind…
Forging ahead beyond the flexibility of the situation makes things rebound often but the way sought with gentle persistence keeps me going may be slow at times but consistently moving ahead and for some reason mind draws a lot of pleasure from looking ahead, contemplating future and having something to dream about…

I am not a Runner

I have 5 friends, one of them is my boss, who run marathons and I don’t run as much or as fast as them hence the qualifying statement that I am not a runner…

I picked up on this ‘hobby’ last September during our Hawaii trip, since DH was on a business trip and I was solely responsible for taking care of the little ones, I needed a little ‘me’ time and it came every morning at 4:30 am when I walked up to the fitness room overlooking the beach. I knew I will not be able to limit my time to half hour if I walked/ran on the beach so watching the ocean from the tread mill seemed like a very good alternative.
I used to run on treadmills before but they were mostly for exercising purposes I never felt running before but since I came back from Hawaii, I started running outdoors and I love the feel of it, the entire process from getting ready to run, to choosing the music, the breathlessness, the cool down and the leisure shower… but most of all, I like the chance that I get to rattle my thoughts and ideas without speaking a word. If you know me personally, you know it’s impossible for me to keep quiet when I have ideas to share and you absolutely cannot talk when you run and so going back and forth within my thoughts and working my brain cells is the most favorite part of my run… Every time I come back from the run, even before I take my shoes off, I sit in the kitchen with my grocery list pad and write down a bunch of thoughts and more often that not they prove to be very intuitive thoughts…

I don’t run a lot, the entire path is about 1.5 miles and I usually don’t take any detours but it’s a change that I noticed in me recently when running has changed from being a mode of exercise to a means of relaxation and sort of meditation and I wanted to share that…