“Green Tea?” Not my cup of tea.

 Hi Everyone,

The other day I was going to pick up my son from school and I boarded the bus.  I met a lady on the bus who was with her 4 months old son.  She was so slim, fit and fine.  I looked at myself, nowhere close to what I used to be before my son was born who is 4 years old now and I have a daughter who is 1-year-old.  Not that I like comparing myself with others and fume about what I don’t have but in this case I can’t stop myself from doing so (only comparison).  And this is not an isolated incident.  I put up in Brussels, a European city and I find four out of five people well maintained.  And being a mother it interests me to see my counterparts and the result is same.

I often try to analyse what’s the difference.

• Is the difference purely geographical?  Different continents, countries have people of different built.  So how different I am is purely geographical?
• Food habits?  I think this is a pivotal role player when it comes to inches.  Being an Indian by origin, what I eat can rank least on European nutrition/ health list.  And  that makes the difference.
• Excessive exercises?  I am not sure on this part because I feel I may not have hit the gym in my lifetime so far (not inclined in future either) but my kids give me ample  physical activity.  When one mops floor 3-5 times a day, arranging things scattered on floor nearly six times a day, on top of that three times running (after)during meals and other chores, then you could safely save those extra bucks spent on gym.

So coming back to my worries ( it is shared by many mothers, isn’t it?)  it looms large when I see myself on my marriage DVD which was seven years back.  Will I ever be able to get back myself, my old self?  Will I ever be able to be par with other mothers of place where I live?   Yes said my mind, why not echoed my heart.  And the process has to begin from “Tomorrow”, this particular word in language gives us the freedom to procrastinate things, do whatever we want “Today” and plans can be taken care of tomorrow.  That simply translates into “why not have a cheese burger today?”, “how about a pizza tonight?”, “shall I order a can of coke or butterscotch ice cream for dessert?”  And the irony is the question ” what would happen if I eat one today?”  It’s not that I eat a lot of junk food but the problem is I can never go overboard and have salads round the clock, for they are bland.  And as I discussed earlier being Indian my taste buds are accustomed to spice (Indian food is known for being spicy).  Therefore these avocados, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, lettuce leaves etc repel me.  I tried doing that bit, but every time I find myself standing “on ground zero” again.  And beverages!  for me steaming cup of coffee in the morning and a piping hot tea in the evening  with sugar and milk is a must.  I tried replacing them with very healthy “Green Tea”, loaded with goodness it is supposed to be a must for fitness lovers.  But soon I realised that “Green tea is not my cup of tea”.

Though I hate to confess but I want to get results without these diet foods and crash diets.  For that I love to follow simple hacks which have deeper meanings and effects.  For example:

• According to Indian culture, sitting on ground (on a little elevated platform) and eating food is a general practice.  In a sitting position more pressure would be exerted on stomach and we will start feeling full early and hence could cut down those extra calories that we would have taken sitting on a dining table.  It is proven that it helps in better digestion.
• Plate size matters:  It is more about psychological impact.  A bigger plate means more stuff, more stuff in plate means more into your stomach and the result you know.  Therefore a small plate could have a psychological satisfaction  of being full early.  Thus cutting short that extra intake.  Do try it!
• Watching television while eating can make us loose the count.  It happens that we don’t realise how much we are eating when our favourite movie or serial or sport is playing in front of us.
• If you could ditch machines more often nothing beats it.  I hope everyone understood what I mean.

And there are many more but frankly I could remember these  while talking to you all 🙂

See, every second celebrity interview, health journal or XYZ sources brag upon the importance of eating healthy, staying active and so on.  There is no doubt about it, it has to be done without fail.  But being happy is also important.  That has an incredible impact on our overall health.  And green tea doesn’t give me happiness, therefore it’s not my cup of tea 🙂