Boosting immune system is key

Maintaining such a healthy lifestyle is essential as we continue to brave the pandemic.

How many times have we heard people say “Workout every day, eat healthy food, sleep a good eight hours a night, and then repeat the process every single day”? We know it’s important, but many of us can’t seem to push ourselves to follow through. Either we have way too much work to make time for a workout, or the bed and that chocolate bar is too tempting to resist. But why is this mantra repeated by every expert?

An unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity may lead to obesity. Obesity further leads to lifestyle ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Dietician Sheela Krishnaswamy says Covid-19 and other diseases are more fatal for those with such lifestyle ailments, as these ailments may be aggravated with infection.

Nutritionist Keerthana Ramu explains how obesity leads to a weakened immune system, “Obesity reduces the immune system’s ability to fight infections, viruses, and diseases. This is because when you are obese, there are a lot of unwanted things in your body. This affects the mechanisms in the body which responds to foreign objects or infections.” The solution? Eat healthy and workout.

Keerthana strongly believes that ‘Good food is equal to good mood, and that simple eating is healthy eating’. “Keep it simple. Have small goals. Don’t try to do everything to the T.”

About maintaining a healthy diet, she says, “You don’t have to start a fancy diet and buy expensive food from international stores. Eat food from your own culture, like daal, roti, idli, sambar, rice, etc. Ensure that you are eating home-cooked meals because that itself is healthy. Eat your greens, coloured vegetables and fruits. Small amounts of sugar is okay, but try to avoid sugary drinks, processed foods, and other junk.”

All experts say being physically active at least an hour a day, like walking, yoga, stretching, is essential to fight obesity. Keerthana says, “When you work out, your body produces endorphins, a happy hormone, and these hormones help remove a lot of toxins and stress from your body. Ultimately, it makes your immune system stronger and hence you are less likely to fall ill.”

In addition to the daily one-hour workouts, Sheela strongly advises that people stay active throughout the day. “Being active for one hour just for a workout and then being completely immobile for the rest of the day is also not good for you.”

She suggests people stay active throughout the day in simple ways such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, or walking a couple of rounds in the house. For the younger population she advises that, every once in a while, they blast some music and bust out some moves. Dancing is a very good form of workout, so have some fun while you burn calories and get your heart pumping. There are also many home workout videos available online and on YouTube, that one can follow easily.

Working out and eating healthy is not simple. Finding the right motivation, despite its many positivities, may sometimes be even harder. Dr Sugami Ramesh, a clinical psychologist, gives a simple way to push yourself to maintain a healthy lifestyle. “Write everything down.”

Dr Sugami says, “Everything you do in a day, maintain a record of it. Of what you ate, how long you spent laying down or sitting, if you cooked, washed dishes, etc.” When you maintain a record of what you did in a day, you start to become more aware of yourself. Often, days fly by without us realizing, but when we make sure to analyze what we did each day, we automatically start wanting to accomplish more. So even if you spent the whole day lying in your bed and watching a show or you ate pizza for all three meals, write it down. Let your mind register how you spent your day and what you ate in a day. Slowly you will be encouraged to become more productive, more active, and healthier.