Sunday 4 October 2015

Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness

Points to bear in mind before embarking on the journey of self discovery while you start trying to lose some fat

Set your objectives

What do you really want to achieve? It could be an over all grooming that you feel you need in your personality. Just shed some weight for an upcoming event, a short term goal. Health issues and have been advised by the doctor to trim some weight. You want to appear physically better. You want to conceive. You are slim otherwise but just have a specific problem area e.g. fat deposit only on tummy, which you can do without. Now that you know what you want, you set about deciding what route you will take.

Positive Attitude

You have been blessed with a beautiful body by Allah. You are in essence beautiful made to perfection. Close your eyes and think of the one feature about your physical self that you love about yourself. Now think of five. These make you unique. You do not have to fit into any pseudo images of perfection that the society or media has fed into our minds. Nevertheless you have to strive to bring your body into shape and improve on its appearance. Not because of something somebody said but because you want to, if you are reading this it means you want to bring a change. So take this challenge head on.

 Measure and Weigh yourself

Measuring Your Weight

When?

  • Ideally in the morning, before you eat. If you cannot manage that then try to weigh yourself at the same time each day.
  • It is normal for most women to slightly gain weight before their period. Delay weighing yourself until after the period.
  • Weighing yourself right after exercise is useless because your weight can fluctuate wildly due to changes in water content. You may weigh heavier or lighter than normal.
  • If you weigh yourself at night you are also weighing any food you have eaten and any liquids you have drunk during the day.

How often?

  • Ideally once a week, at the same time of the day. However, if you are tracking your weight loss using a software tool, you should weigh yourself as often as the software requires because the software needs this information to generate recommendations.
  • Weight fluctuates during the month; this is particularly true for women. Be patient. Remember that real weight loss – that is, loss of fat rather than water – occurs slowly, if you follow our recommendations for healthy weight loss. Your average weekly loss rate (1.0-1.5 lb/0.5-0.75 kg) will be detectable only if you weigh every two weeks. Don't get discouraged by short-term fluctuations.

How?

  • Use the same scales each time you weigh yourself.
  • Make sure you are wearing the same clothes each time you weigh yourself. The clothing must be as light as possible or, better still, wear no clothes at all.
  • Choose accurate and reliable scales. Make sure that they measure half units (½ kg or ½ lb) accurately.
  • Do not put the scales on an uneven or soft surface such as a carpet.

What If the Scale Indicates a Weight Gain?

  • You may be weighing extra water. You could have consumed more salt than usual. Your body will naturally retain some water due to the extra sodium intake.
  • If you have been working out, you may have gained muscle. Bear in mind that muscle is more dense than fat. Extra muscle is a good thing because it will help burn off the fat in the longer term. If you have been working out then proceed to taking your measurements.
  • Constipation can cause weight gain. Add fiber to your diet and re-weigh yourself in a few days.
  • Make sure that the scales are working properly. Perhaps you need to replace the batteries.
  • If you have been too enthusiastic about pastry and soda, then perhaps the weight gain is real. Keep to your diet and be patient.

Taking Measurements

Taking your body measurements is an excellent way to keep track of your changing shape as you get fitter. Body weight by itself is not a good indicator of improved fitness. This is because when you burn fat and increase your muscle mass, you may weigh a bit more even though your body is getting tighter and smaller. This is due to the high density of muscle tissue compared to fat.

What Exactly Should You Measure?

Body Measurements
The most common measurements include the circumference of your chest, biceps, waist, hips and thighs. Sometimes the neck, forearm and calf are also measured.
Chest: Measure around the largest part of your chest.
Biceps: Measure midway between the top of your shoulder and elbow.
Waist: Measure at the narrowest point, approximately one inch above your belly button. No cheating! Don't pull in your belly or stick it out.
Hips: Measure your hips around the largest part of your buttocks with your heels together.
Thigh: Thighs are measured separately. Stand with your legs slightly apart. Measure your upper leg where the circumference is largest.

How?

  • Use a flexible measuring tape as used by dressmakers. It can be as long as you need. If you use a plastic or cloth tape, bear in mind that these materials may stretch over time.
  • Wear the thinnest clothes possible, or none at all, so as not to add to the measurements you take.
  • Try to measure yourself in front of a full-length mirror so that you can see if the tape is positioned correctly.
  • Perhaps you could find another person to help with the measuring. They would be able to read the results more easily.
  • Keep your muscles relaxed while measuring.
  • When measuring, pull the tape just tight enough to keep it from sagging.

How often?

  • Measure yourself about every eight weeks.
  • Do not take measurements more often than monthly as it may take six to eight weeks to notice any change. You shouldn't expect to see progress more quickly than this and taking your measurements more often can be discouraging.
  • If you are tracking your weight loss using a software tool, you should measure yourself as often as the software requests it.

Measurement vs scales/weighing

There is a lot of focus on weight on scale while people are trying to lose weight. There should be more or at least equal focus on your measurements. Measurements give you more precise current status of your body and the difference you get after losing weight as opposed to weighing scales. Because at times you are losing fat and drop inches and since you are building lean muscle mass, which is leaner but heavier than fat, you can have steady weight or even show gain on scale, which can be very demotivating.
It is also very important to correctly measure yourself. And the next time you are measuring it should be at the same points otherwise there will be error in your calculation. Also remember these measurements will be different from the ones your tailor takes. For example your tailor measures your bust at widest point and then your waist at the narrowest. When you will measure yourself, if you have somebody to help you measure it will be better because when you bend to get your waistline etc there comes error in the reading, you measure at various points, the bust, then under bust. Three separate points on your tummy, the first is between waist and under bust, where the bulge from your stomach shows, then the narrowest part that is your waist, and then the widest part which covers your obliques and the lower abs, placing the measuring tape on your belly button in front, ensuring you are covering the widest circumference of your tummy. Specially if you have B type tummy as most people do. For D type tummy you will measure similarly only your waist might show as the widest in circumference.
Your arms thighs calves have to be measured at different points.


Also bear in mind what body type r u? All body types are different and how they react to effort to lose weight is different too) so it is important to know if you are pear shaped ( petite shoulders chest and upto waist, and then much broader from lower abs hips and thighs,) Apple shaped (slim arms and legs, protruding belly,) hour glass shaped, broad shoulders and hips but narrow waistline, and another rare body type is the triangle, johnny bravo type body, broad shoulders and heavy arms and narrow from the waist down. Which type you fall in so you know which areas you need to focus on while trying to come in shape.But remember you cannot alter your basic body shape only improve the appearance. Your body shape is part of your personality celebrate your womanhood and embrace your body the way nature has gifted you. All body shapes are beautiful.



Why BMIs are not accurate

A conventional way of gauging obesity is BMI (Body Mass Index) which can be misleading.

BMI (body mass index), which is based on the height and weight of a person, is an inaccurate measure of body fat content and does not take into account muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, and racial and sex differences, say researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Body Mass Index's biggest flaw is that it does not take into account the person's body fat versus muscle (lean tissue) content.
Muscle weighs more than fat (it is denser, a cubic inch of muscle weighs more than a cubic inch of fat). Therefore, BMI will inevitably class muscly, athletic people as fatter than they really are.
A 6ft-tall Olympic 100 meter sprinter weighing 90kg (200lbs) may have the same BMI (26) as a couch potato of the same height and weight.
A BMI calculation would class both of them as overweight.
That calculation is probably right for the sedentary couch potato, but not for the athlete.
The athlete's waist circumference, at 34ins, is well within "healthy weight" - if his height is 72 inches, his waist is less than half his height.
However, the sedentary person's waist of 40 inches is more than half his height.

Sense and Sensiblity while work out and diet

Diet with sense
Work out with sensibility

Take informed decision  
Your objective is to lose fat from your body and not only weight showing on scale
Your objective is to build lean muscle mass which burns more calories, gives you a nice toned shape all over

Be careful during workouts 


During workouts do not to over exert yourself. 20 to 40 minutes workout, 3 to 4 times a week is good enough to boost your metabolism and tone your body.

Correct Posture and Alignment

 And remember your correct posture during squats, lunges, planks, bicep or tricep curls or any other exercise is very important. Check the correct knee heel alignment for squats for example because you can hurt your knee if you bring it too forward. Plus your tush is not getting the working. It is important to know which muscle group are you targeting while you are doing a certain workout so you contract it and make it work harder to get the most out of your workout. Make your cardios more effective by doing them at the maximum speed you can manage, so your heart rate elevates between 130 to 150, depending on your age and stamina. Shorter period of faster cardio is more effective than half an hour of slower one. Focus on quality as opposed to quantity. There is no competition of spending more time in gym or doing most reps, but the time you do spend working out should give you results without injuring you. If you feel strain or pain stop immediately. You may have done something wrong, perhaps wrong posture. Attempt again only when you know the right way to do it. Use the resources around you to find out what went wrong and fix it. 

Do not abuse your body

It is our obligation to take good care of it, keep it healthy, take care of hygiene and make sure we are not abusing it in any way. Avoid the following:

Over exerting

In your zeal to reduce weight fast you may be over exerting. Your body is a sacred temple. Save yourself from any possible damage or injury.

 Try to improve your posture

At the gym or home, treadmill is a great help in correcting your posture. While you are walking on treadmill look at yourself in the mirror and notice if you are slouching, are your shoulders square enough, your spine is erect and straight, and your tummy pulled in, try to pin your belly button/naval to your spine, but breathe normally, do not hold your breath.

Diet with Sense

Now while you are dieting it is important to cut calories but do not starve yourself. Also bear in mind to keep all food components in your diet. While you cut out all processed foods and refined sugars from your food, you give yourself enough nutrition through healthy diet to be able to workout and go through your day normally without having mood-swings or lethargy, which can be indication of low blood sugar or blood pressure. Your diet should be balanced, though your carbs should be less and the complex ones coming from whole and brown sources of grain or fruits and veges. Your proteins are very vital have them from animal and plant source both because they are the building blocks for your lean muscle mass, helping you build and restore your muscles as you workout and diet. So have them for all three meals and if your snacks are fruits that's fine otherwise you can have them for snacks too. Do not starve yourself or your body will retain fat and lose muscle. Your weight will fall on scale but not the fat. Have five to seven small meals meaning at no time shud you go hungry. So your body knows you are not starving and there is no need to store fat, and it is willing to let go off the fat. Which believe me your body has a mind of its own and it says fat is survival for a rainy day lets keep it safe. Tell your body it's ok we can survive without fat.
Lastly hydrate yourself with plain water. Eat fruits have smoothies without added sugar but no juices not even freshly home squeezed ones because it has no fibre and high sugar
. Try to avoid juices because when you juice any fruit, you may use three or more fruits to make one glass e.g three oranges or apples and we usually drink two glasses at a go as we find juices tasty and easy to drink. It means getting a high load of fructose sugar at a go. Even if you drank one glass it has fructose sugar of three fruits as opposed to if you just ate the fruit, you would eat one at a time at max two and those too along with the much required dietary fibre from fruit. The higher sugar rush from juices will get stored as fat because it cannot all be burnt. Try making smoothies instead, by adding one or two fruits, one or two vegetables like cucumber, lemon and mint leaves along with water.

Why not to workout in fasting

There is a simple rule, you do any workout after your meal, because before breakfast, your metabolism is slow and your body is not in fat burning mode. It is in starvation mode and you lose muscle and not fat, during your empty stomach workout. So first thing you do on getting up get your pre-breakfast and after 15 minutes get your breakfast. If you do workout in the mornings, have some carbs in breakfast in the form of fruits and/or cereals. Then you wait for at least 40 min before your walk/exercise. After exercise you take protein post workout bf/meal, like egg whites boiled or omelette, whatever is your choice and may be some fruit of your choice. You should have protein to help your body rebuild the wear and tear to your muscles caused by your workout. Don't overlook this point.

People tend to do workout or walk especially early in the morning without bf thinking it will burn more fat since their sugar level is low as they are in fasting so far so the body will burn fat to meet the calorie requirement for your workout. But your body, has a mind of its own, it doesn't realise your noble intentions, and thinks, fasting! starvation! Uh oh I don't know when is the next meal, let us save these precious fats and use up muscles. Save those hard earned muscles and lose the fat. There is research behind this theory. While burning fat in fasting is a myth.
This also explains people complaining they are not getting results even after workout because they were exerting but the wrong way. Educate yourself and others on the right way to get the most out of your efforts.

Yoga

Make yoga part of your weekly workout schedule. It strengthens and tones your muscles and increases your flexibility. And countless more benefits, yoga is not just exercise of body but also mind, and it targets not just your muscles and fats but also your inner organs. There are detoxifying poses, poses in kundalini yoga that help with infertility and hormonal issues, there are anti ageing poses, the list can go on of the benefits of different poses. You can research or if you are interested I will post some videos and images. Yoga is also very good for people who cannot do strenuous exercises due to health issues such as osteoporosis, asthma, backache etc where cardios like jumping jack or burpees are not encouraged.
Remember to contract your abs, pulling your tummy in while you do yoga or any other workout, but do not hold your breath. Breathing is very important and how you breathe through your workout is even more so. And for yoga especially and generally for all exercises, you breathe in during the easy part of your movement and then breathe out as you exert. For example for crunches you breathe out as you raise your torso and breathe in as you go down. And for yoga you hold the pose you did to the count of five breaths. Five times you inhale and exhale and then move to next pose.

Constipation

I would now like to discuss something which is usually a problem when you are dieting. As your diet changes, the food and the portions both, your visits to the loo become less frequent for big job and perhaps more for peeing because of the increased water intake. Even more so if you are taking infused water.
Why is that?
1. Fibre from your food decreases as you cut down cereals, to cut carbs.
2. Your portion is smaller than before so obviously you have lesser output too.
3. It varies from person to person some people don't feel any problem while some feel constipated. If you are one of them pls read the following carefully.
Keeping your colon cleansed is very important because of various health reasons including helping you lose weight, keeping you safe from haemorrhoids, fistula, even colon cancer etc
So what can you do?
Increase fibre in your diet by taking ispaghol husk/ or basil seeds/tukhm tulsi/ tukhm malanga.
Basil seeds: you have to soak half a t sp in water about an hour or a little less before drinking. Drink once or twice a day depending on how effective it was for you.
Ispaghol husk: one Tb sp in a glass of water and wait for five min to soak and stir and drink before each meal. 
I personally prefer basil seeds because I feel once it is soaked it doesn't absorb more water, but ispaghol keeps absorbing more so it dehydrates you somewhat. So once again it is a matter of personal choice.
An added advantage of having either of these fibres before meal is that they help in weight loss by binding fat and not letting it get absorbed. 

Both types of dietary fiber -- soluble and insoluble -- are indigestible, so they pass through your digestive system relatively intact. Beyond that, they each offer different health benefits. One of the advantages of soluble fiber is that it lowers your cholesterol levels. It also helps protect the health of your heart and arteries by interfering with the absorption of fats and bile acids.


Soluble Fiber and Fat Absorption

Soluble fiber is also called viscous fiber because it absorbs water to form a thick, gelatinous substance. This thick mass of fiber can interfere with the absorption of dietary fat and cholesterol, according to the Institute of Medicine. It accomplishes the task by binding with fats and cholesterol and carrying them through the digestive tract. As a result, fats are eliminated in your stool rather than absorbed into your bloodstream, reports the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Soluble Fiber and Bile Production

Bile acids are produced in the liver and used in the small intestine to help digest fats. They’re made from several substances, including cholesterol. In fact, using cholesterol to synthesize bile acids is a primary way your body gets rid of excess cholesterol, according to Colorado State University. Soluble fiber also binds with bile acids and prevents them from being absorbed into your system. When this happens, the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream decreases as your liver uses it to produce more bile acids

Natural is better

A rule for everyone No processed foods or drinks, Natural is the way to go.
For those who are just starting diet and workout
Desi ghee(clarified butter)/even better is butter because it hasn't been heated are better options if u don't have cholesterol issues, because the closer you are to nature the healthier. While oils are processed. Organic coconut oil or mustard oil (not processed) are also good alternatives. Remember the calories from fat are almost the same in a Tb sp of ghee or cooking oil. It is basically hdl (high density lipids) and LDL (low density lipids) which are good and bad cholestrols/lipids, or fats. You get HDLs from nuts too. While LDL s are the bad ones. But once again if cholesterol is not ur issue u can use desi ghee in moderation. But keeping the calorie count in mind.

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Babu

Babu

Somebody a while back related an interesting anecdote about the coinage of babu, a widely used term in the subcontinent. In Punjab people say baoo, a regional variation of the same word. As everybody knows it is not an English word, and it is not from any of the regional languages. So has anyone ever wondered where it comes from?
It is today used for somebody(male) who is well dressed. In the colonial times, it was specially used for men who dressed in western attire, mostly government employees, and the educated elite. It is almost a title representing respect and high stature. The working classes addressed the educated as babu saab(sahib.) Many people nickname their sons babu.
Now how did it get coined? According to the narrator, this symbol of esteem and veneration is somewhat disguised form of baboon. The English Officers working in India found the locals dressed in western clothes amusing or ridiculous and called them baboon, perhaps not too well pronounced for them to take as an insult. Try saying babu, in English accent with emphasis on the last syllable, "baboo." "Come baboo!" By just dropping the "n" baboon becomes babu. "Serves them right for aping us," they would have discreetly laughed. Someone must have called his clerk baboo(n) and others would have followed. Till it became a norm and the naive locals took it as being addressed with respect.
I do not know about the authenticity of this story, but it makes a lot of sense to me. What do you think?

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Should women change their names on getting married?

The changing of names after marriage_ an overview

Addressing the issue of  Pakistani women changing names on getting married, they usually replace their father's first name by the husband's, I am confounded by where this tradition originated, because it was not the custom of subcontinent, neither the Arabic norm and nor the western way.
In the subcontinent, traditionally Hindu girls had/have a first name followed by Devi or such similar second name, and now usually their family name. The Sikh girls had their names followed by Kaur, but now use Singh as well. The Muslim girls had their first name followed by Begum or Bibi, or another way was naming a girl with two personal names, e.g. Musarrat Jabeen, Abida Parveen. Sometimes addressed with both names together but usually with either one, but formally both written together. On getting married their names did not change, not even on official documents.
Then comes the traditional Arab way which we equate to Islamic way, since it is the way of Sunnah too. Where girls' and boys' names are preceded by the father's name followed by family name e.g. Asma (binte) Umer Al Harithy, binte being optional only meaning daughter of. Following that tradition today most girls and boys are given their first name, followed by the father's name and then optionally the family name/caste. In the Arab culture, the woman's name does not change regardless of her marital status, the only change that comes is an unofficial one, once the married couple becomes parents, they are addressed as Abu (father of) and Um (mother of) followed by the name of their eldest son.
Then comes the western tradition of first name followed by family name. There is an old English tradition of using the maiden name of the mother prior to the family name, only Bilawal Bhutto Zardari decided to follow this in Pakistan. In the west the women change their family name to the husband's family name, after getting married, as we are familiar with. But they do not adopt his first name.
Coming back to why women in Pakistan change their name by replacing their father's name with the husband's? This is not following any tradition, it is a senseless thing to do, and it is a very recent trend. Begam Rana Liaqat is an early example, while around that time other women were still following the subcontinent way. That is continuing with the same name as prior to getting married. 
Someone may have thoughtlessly decided to follow the western way and caused this new chaotic trend. It is as confused as we are in other matters between the three main cultures that influence us. We continuously, but fruitlessly try to break away from our roots, our original cultural heritage naming it Hindu influence. Whereas right or wrong that is a separate debate but our actual identity is the subcontinent, which shows in our language, dress, traditions and customs. But we try to denounce this and try to adopt the Arab traditions as the Islamic identity,not knowing which is only cultural and which is actually religious, so wearing a garb of foreign influence, and lastly there is the global western influence, specially Americanisation, which we and other nations are paradoxically adopting and detesting at the same time. Hence confused hybrid Pakistanis, three separate traditions showing different levels of influence on different classes of society.
Girls today are realizing the error, some following Benazir Bhutto's example, decide to keep their family name. Others like I decide to keep their father's name, as my parentage obviously didn't change. Some husbands and/or their families have issues with the new bride not adopting the husband's first name. The reason I wrote this article is to look into this wrong trend and hope to set it right. But when something is already being followed by two generations thoughtlessly even by the educated and enlightened, I do not know if it will make a difference. Has anyone ever paid attention to this matter or thought something was being done wrong? Looking forward to feedback.