5 baby steps to a healthier life despite an injury or disease

What a headline. Oh Pooja, such a cliche! Did not expect that from you!  Oh I know! But unlike others, I speak from personal experience. I hope you stick with this blog, read on and I hope it helps you make a change. How many of us have clicked on videos and images and links on the topics of getting healthy. I know what have always read and found and it did not work for me!

I have always been health conscious, I had a very active life till I had a small accident which lead to a lower back injury and that's it, it was down hill from there. That's all it took, someone's innocent prank dislodged my tail bone(last bone in the spine) and my life changed forever. Doctor had told me, no exercise for 6 months to 2 yrs. I have struggled with this injury for about a decade and I still do. All of a sudden my active life turned into sedentary one. I couldn't run anymore, couldn't dance, couldn't stretch, couldn't ride a bike, couldn't sit for long, I had a prescribed cushion to sit on which did not help either and I worked in IT. I mean I was bugged with pain and so scared because any of these movements will give me days of pain and discomfort. How many pills am I supposed to pop? It was the starting of my weight gain and frustration. Everything I liked to do, I couldn't do anymore except eat. I turned into an emotional eater and that did not help my situation. I had given up.  If I could come out of the hell hole and step towards a healthier life, I know you can too, I believe in you! It is time for you to believe in yourself. Please believe, you can!  These are the basic steps for a healthier life which will give you back your confidence if you work hard towards them, prioritize them one at a time. It is just one baby step at a time and soon one day you will look back and wonder how you got there :-) 1. The "Want" =========== Cliche? again? No, it is not how it sounds. I have tried so many times to persuade people to lead a healthier life, I hated to see lives wasting away and I have found that those who did not put a step forward lacked the simplest thing, Willingness to be healthy. They might have given up, they might be ignorant of their health or may be they are occupied in something else. So are you looking to get healthier? And are you serious about it or have you given up? This is simplest and the only deciding factor whether you will get healthier in future or not.  If you do not want it, you will hear, read and move on and nothing will change. But if you ready and you really "Want" it, you will listen, you will contemplate, you will follow and you will be proud to have moved a step closer to your goal.

2. Sleep ======= If you want to get healthier, this is a MUST, no compromise here. Sleep is the most important factor in health and the most ignored. Our body needs its 7.5 hours of good sleep to function. You may not notice the side-effects of less sleep in your twenties but it will catch up with you soon. If you abuse your body, it abuses you back! We need this 7.5 hrs of sleep and good sleep because our body does the most import thing in its sleep, it repairs and it cleans up! Do you remember how strict our parents were regarding our sleep in the childhood, there is good reason why. Its the growth hormone, if a kid doesn't sleep well, he/she is not gonna grow that well. It is that important and this concept doesn't change with time. Our body releases growth hormone when we sleep, not in the same quantities as childhood but more like a maintenance quantity. Sleep is also when our brain does cleanup as well. So if you do not get good 7.5 hours of sleep, it can hamper the functions of both your mind and body. So remember, 1st things 1st. Get your sleep in order before you move to the next step. 3. Diet ====== What? I though you will say Exercise!. Well, diet is far important than exercise, has more effect in magnitude too. Moreover, there are so many people who cannot exercise, may be they are bed ridden or they have injuries which prevent them from it. There is no need to lose hope, you can be healthy by controlling your diet and no I am not going to ask you to go on a crash diet. The fact is, we eat too much food today, food was never available in this much quantity and so readily before so the result is that we are eating all the time. It is detrimental to our health, we are never going to lose weight if we eat so frequently and you know losing weight gets more important each passing year. I know what I am talking about, I went from eating 6 meals a day to eating once a day today and I never ever thought I could. My whole website is dedicated to the Keto lifestyle and its benefits but if you do not want to go there, start small. Just make a vow to yourself to eliminate all high carbs for 3 weeks, no gluten, no sugar, no starches. Eat more vegetables, complex carbs like whole grains, millets, quinoa, healthy fats. Then start intermittent fasting and gradually include 1 full day fast a week with intermittent fasting everyday. You reach there and you will already feel so light. Move to Keto lifestyle to get the most benefits out of your diet, it changes your life. 4. Exercise ========= Frankly, I almost did not put exercise in this list just because I am so sick of people associating health with exercise. You put on few pounds and people think you are lazy and judge you for not going to the gym. There is so much behind weight gain, so much more than just gym and food. Weight gain is more mental than physical. Exercise is not on this list as an excuse to eat whatever you want later that day, if that is your motivation, you need to change your relationship with food first. Exercise is on this list because IF you are following the above 3 steps and they are already part of your routine, you can double or even triple the benefits you get out of these by adding exercise. One major factor that can ruin all your efforts towards good health is Stress. Everyone ignores stress, they just move on with their lives and just live but stress takes a big toll, our body responds to stress by increasing cortisol and in turn increasing our blood sugar. Too much stress can expedite the progress of any disease in your body. Exercise is one good way to relieve stress. Exercise will also help you get a better sleep. Exercise will increase your chances and amount of burning that body fat. Exercise will also boost repair and cleanup while you sleep as it promotes growth hormone. If you are injured, try to work around your injury. Any movement is good enough. If you have a leg injury, move your arms and vice versa. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment each day, you will start liking it. 5. Giving back =========== No one talks about this one, but to me it is very important. You see, once you start following these steps, you will change, you will look healthier and people are going to notice. They will be astonished and even jealous at times but they will ask you one question. How did you do it?? This is the time for you to give back and see how good it feels and how motivating it is for yourself. Tell them how you did it, make them believe that anyone can do it. There will always be haters no matter what you do and some people get pleasure in other people's misery. But you want to help the ones who need it and want it and may be they just need a nudge, a little encouragement. If you end up helping even one person, you will feel so confident, fulfilled and so motivated to get better each day.