Posts in category "health"
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Black Belt In Shotokan Karate
I finally received my Black Belt (1st Dan) in Shotokan Karate after training for it for nearly 7 years and I am super proud of it! I know it took a bit longer than a few others but I am too old I suppose :). I have heard of people, in fact kids receiving black belt in 2 or 3 years. I can tell you that at least in Shotokan Karate, it is almost impossible to receive any kind of black belt with in 5 years. It takes even longer for kids because they still have to build up the strength. My daughter who joined almost at the same time as me is now in Brown Belt (4th Kyu). Of course, if you are young, fit and dedicated you can still achieve in 5 years time.
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My Daily Routine: 2023 Edition
It has been a couple of years since I gave my last “daily routine” update. A reader of my blog also asked me to give an update, so here it is. There is almost no change in my routine since about 2 years ago which is nothing to be surprised about since that was the whole plan in retirement. Just chill, take it easy and live life on the absolute slow lane. Almost nothing in our life is urgent since early retirement. Things will happen when they happen :).
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Truth About My Weight Loss
In the past few weeks, I met a bunch of friends after a long time. We had a sort of mini reunion of my 10th class friends and a mini reunion of my engineering friends. After having met all these folks, one theme that came out in common with some of them was that I lost weight. While it was true that I lost weight, I did not care to explain why to any of them, primarily because it can’t be explained in a single sentence. My weight loss is not related to any health issue but is related to adapting to goals. Just like in finance, goals related to health also need adaptation so as to give yourself the best chance to succeed. In the short term it may feel like you are taking a loss, but in the long term, you are actually making inroads to be successful. You should have the propensity to take short term pain to make long term gains. What has all this to do with my weight loss you ask? Read on to learn more.
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Why Is Sleep Important?
I sleep too much. Way too much by today's standards. When I tell someone that I sleep at 9:30 pm, I see raised eyebrows. Not sure if their expression is because they think "you are lucky to get to bed by that time". Or may be it is along the lines of "you are too old and have no social life and are not invited to parties, or you are lazy". Either way it does not really matter to me. I decline late night parties and meetings as much as possible. But you know in the modern era you are an outcast if you sleep early.
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Take Care Of Your Mind And Body
Whether you are planning to retire early or not, one thing that everyone needs to take care of is their mind and body. It is surprising how little time and care we devote to both in our mad rush to achieve things. Life is not always about goals and achievements. Sometimes it helps to stop and think if that is all that we really want. Did you ever wonder how much time do you actively spend on improving the mind and body?
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My Workout and Health Series Conclusion
This is the final post in the health series which I started almost 3 months ago on the request of a friend. I hope some of you found the posts helpful. I would like to conclude the series with my exercise habits.
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My Diet
I wanted to give a quick overview of my eating habits in case someone is interested. To start off, my body type is ectomorph and as such, I need more calories from carbohydrates than the other macro nutrients. Also, I need to do more strength training than cardio. I am a non-vegetarian and prefer eating meat daily, mainly because I will not be able to meet my protein requirements on a vegetarian diet. Keep those things in mind as I uncover details about my health and fitness. Remember that the diet and exercise I am following best apply to me and may not work for others. Do your own research on your body, figure out your body type, diet and exercise.
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Importance of Exercise
We are finally coming close to the end of the health series. As most people probably already know, eating healthy is more important than exercise, so I spent a lot of time on how to eat healthy. Assuming that you got your food habits in order, the next best thing you can do to your body is to exercise. In many cases, the inactivity is the cause of most health problems. If we do just some very basic exercise, it will help the body quite a bit. Depending on your grit and inclination towards fitness, you can do more exercise and be at the top of your fitness game, or you could do just the basics and be moderately fit. The returns tend to taper off as you increase the level of activity. So beginners and inactive people will see a lot of benefit quite quickly when they start exercising and the benefits will drop off as the intensity increases.
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Body Types and How It Affects Us
Did you know that the way you look if you do not do anything special with diet or exercise, is the way your genetics dictate. Yes, that is the unfortunate truth. You acquire the propensity to be naturally fat or lean from your parents. But that need not be the end of story. You definitely can change that. The problem is that the obesity and diabetic cases are increasing year on year. If everyone just acquired their parent's genetics, then the proportion of healthy vs unhealthy, fat vs lean, diabetic vs non-diabetic should remain the same over time. However, that is not the case. So we are doing something wrong to make things worse. Environmental changes, increase in stressful jobs apart, our quality of diet and exercise has been on the decline. We need to improve them. But, depending on the body type, you need to adjust your diet and exercise. So it is helpful to understand your body type based on your genetics. There are three body types in general -- endomorph, mesomorph and ectomorph. Figure out which body type you closely resemble and apply the fixes.
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Micronutrients
Now that we completed understanding macro-nutrients, it is time to understand micro-nutrients and their role in health. Micro-nutrients are essential parts of food that is required in small amounts. These include vitamins such as A, B, K etc and minerals such as iron, magnesium, zinc etc. Vitamins are required for a healthy immune system, converting food to energy, healthy eye sight and so on, where as minerals help in fluid balance, growth, muscle functioning. We need to obtain most of the vitamins and minerals from food since our body cannot make some of them. So what are the different kinds of micro-nutrients and how do we get sufficient amount?
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