Below is a pic from my holiday in the Andamans. I spent time in the northern parts of the island. It was gorgeous. It was also full of litter. Relatively obscure tourist destinations are filled with empty bottles, biscuits and chips wrappers. It is a sorry sight. Who is responsible ? The government, inhabitants or tourists ? Is there a...

‘Lifting weights and strength training is not for me. I tried this place and did not like it.’ -unnamed client Two coaches might say and implement the exact same thing in two different ways. The way one says/implements it resonates and feels like a personal call to action. The way the other says/implements it does not move you enough t...

There is no perfect diet There is no perfect daily eating plan There is no perfect exercise plan There most definitely is no perfect amount or type of activity HERE’S WHY You eat foods. Unless eating 2000 calories with carefully measured and planned foods is among the top 3 priorities in life, you will most certainly not be able to mea...

DIFA Dosage Intensity Frequency Attention DIFA makes or breaks most things, endeavours, relationships or habits in life. Here’s a quick rundown on the semantics of those terms: Dosage: We can tweak the popular adage into ‘The devil is in the dosage’ to render it more potent. Dosage determines the outcome, potency and adaptation. Too li...

Fitness comes from the Greek word ‘it can mean anything’. I am kidding. The statements ‘I am fit’, ‘I want to be fit’ are fill in the blanks statements. They need to be I am fit for _______ activity or I want to be fit enough to complete ____. Family, work, time, health, goals, friends, quarantines, priorities, motivation and your abil...

We have a giant weighing scale in our kitchen counter. It is part of the standard workflow in our kitchen. We measure most of the food we eat or prepare. We are not a family of body builders or athletes. We measure since it is the easiest way to know how much we eat. This is the simplest way to control how much energy you consume. What...

The result is directly proportional to the effort . Not time, not money. But effort. What you do is what you get. If you bend your knees very little, it results in very little development of muscle around the knee. If you bend or rotate your shoulders very little, you get very little muscle around the shoulders. Systematically squattin...

Results matter. All the content you consume, all the activity you take on, the protein shakes, gym fees, equipment purchases and nutrition habits you foster need to yield and maintain results. One of the simplest ways to measure outcomes in your body composition. WHAT A DEXA SCAN SHOWS YOU The DEXA scan result below shows you what perc...

Activity porn is as problematic as photoshop when it comes to perception of fitness and body image. What you don’t need: 1. Globe shaped shoulders 2. A sculpted abdomen 3. Run distances over 2-3 kilometers 4. More than 40-45 mins working out What you do need: 1. Reasonable body composition with body fat levels not exceeding 20-25% 2. A...

• We know walks are not enough • We know the hitting a buffett twice a week is bad • Impulsive decisions to order food are seldom measured or healthy • Playing soccer or badminton twice a week isn’t enough for our body to maintain bone health and muscle • Healthier ingredients, unlike smartphones, are neither ubiquitous nor convenient ...

WHAT ARE GYMS A space that provides you with literal space, machines, weights and other implements to do things. What is the 'thing' that you need to exactly do? You need to pay more to find that out. 99% of gyms out there do not factor for the true cost of educating you and guiding you to an outcome. They charge you for the space, air...

* I squat because my knees are healthy or my knees are healthy because I squat * I sleep well because I am stress free or I am stress free because I sleep well Establishing causality is hard. Rarely is an outcome solely caused by one action. But here are two cases where causality can snowball into something desirable and you can’t tell...

I ran into this product in Thailand (picture below): Meiji High Protein Zero Sucrose Whey Formula Chocolate Flavour This was a milk-based beverage that was on almost every 7-11 store shelf I visited. And anyone who has been to Thailand can tell you that there are a lot of 7-11’s there. The same product was on offer from 2-3 companies. ...

Original is here: http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/foodlog.php I did not write this. But I don't I could ever write a better version of it. But here's how logging is done. Food logging / Calorie mathematics: Author: Jujimufu Published: Summer 2005 Food logging and calorie calculations, these tasks summon imagery of both compulsiv...

Here are commonly consumed Indian pulses: Chickpea (chole, hummus) Kidney beans (rajma, refried beans) Pigeon peas (toor dal used in sambar, some dals) Mung beans (yellow dal) Mungo beans (urad dal used for idlli, dal and dosa). Each has a slightly different protein content and yields slightly different amounts of energy. Pulses are a ...

A friend gave us a pack of figs as a gift. We carelessly popped 2-3 as a snack as we flitted around the house. We stick one piece on a weighing scale. The number? 20 grams. We look at the label on the pack. Each fig we popped in was 55-60 calories. That's a 150-180 calorie snack that we didn’t even count as a snack. That’s 8-12 percent...

There is a versatile measure we use day in day out that can subtly sneak in more energy into our daily eating than we realise : Spoons. Spoons come in two sizes: A teaspoon holds 5 ml. A tablespoon holds 15 ml. It is easy to underestimate the amount of energy some foods can provide in one tablespoon. To state the obvious: there are sou...

AI.COACH: Good morning Adarsh. Time to wake up. You have received sufficient dose of REM and deep sleep. Adarsh: Shut up. I have a long day. I’ll be up in five. AI.COACH: Hi Adarsh. It’s 3 pm. I detect maximum muscle pliability and oxygen saturation with optimal joint mobility. It’s time to hit the gym. Adarsh: Shut up AICOACH. AINetfl...

Holidays, shopping, work, travel, friendships, gym equipment, clothes, books, bags, watches, hobbies, exercise and food. A few of the things we consume every single day. There is of course more to add to the list. But let’s start there. You can judge consumption on some simple parameters. Excess, like porn, is easy to call out. You’ll ...

Changing the question can change how we see the problem. Here are the questions we tend to ask: * How to become fit ? * How to improve stamina ? * How to become stronger ? * Do I need to stretch more? * How do I strengthen or stretch to get rid of pain? Here are more direct questions: * What kind of stresses is the body subject to when...

“The superior satiating effect of potato compared with rice and pasta in a mixed meal was consistent with its lower energy density.” From Zhang et al 2018, Subjective Satiety Following Meals Incorporating Rice, Pasta and Potato To the fan of the South Indian Thali, the potato fry is a very distinct beast from sambar rice. It would be s...

Here’s what every sentient human being knows about health and wellness: 1. Eat protein 2. Eat vegetables 3. Train everyday 4. Sleep enough and consistently 5. Drink enough water 6. Calorie surpluses make you fat 7. Calorie deficits can help you lose weight 8. Too large a calorie deficit is bad for you 9. Muscle is good 10. Body fat bey...

All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison. —Paracelsus, 1538 I am not going to talk about how water or any food can be poison if you consume enough of it. Instead I want to talk about the all or nothing mentality that pervades efforts to improve health and well being. Her...

The heart is a muscle that get’s oxygen and nutrient rich blood to the body. It clears carbon-di-oxide out of the body and moves waste to organs that can deal with it. It is akin to a pump/motor complete with intricate plumbing and electrical. A healthy heart: * Ensures blood reaches all the cells in the heart. The heart is beating all...

The only thing most of us love more than food is to make more money. Here is how you can get better returns from what you put on your plate. Carbohydrates are the liquid cash holding portion of your portfolio. You want as little/much of your local currency as you need to get you through a day or two. It is unproductive to hold too much...

*Is it to burn fat? *Is it to gain muscle? *Is it to feel better? *Is it to look better? *Is it to fit in a dress you've always wanted? *Is it to fit in a dress you used to wear? *Is it to be part of a community? *Is it a hobby? *Is it your idea of play? *Are you just looking for a new playground? *Is it a sport you like? *Is it someth...

One in three adults aged 50 and over dies within 12 months of suffering a hip fracture. Older adults have a five-to-eight times higher risk of dying within the first three months of a hip fracture compared to those without a hip fracture. This increased risk of death remains for almost ten years. - Sharon Brennan-Olsen summarising thre...

* Word : Chemophobia * Meaning of the word : Chemophobia (or chemphobia or chemonoia) is an aversion to or prejudice against chemicals or chemistry * Use it in a sentence: Some purveyors of protein bars also play on people’s irrational chemophobia to peddle their own chemically enhanced protein bars as better for you. CONTEXT * Protein...

Why do we need a study to show us that sitting for 8 hours a day is not useful or productive for our joints. Humans are a fairly bright lot at getting into the best positions to get things done. You could have a conversation sitting, walking or lying. You could drink a coffee or eat a meal sitting or standing. Lying or sitting works fo...

85 per cent of girls and 78 per cent of boys get less than the 1 hour of recommended activity level a day. -WHO We don't move enough. There are more cars, bikes, buses, trains, planes per head than in the past. Life is convenient to the point of being counterproductive. Our ancestors had to walk more and more of our ancestors were farm...