Fitness, A Way Of Life

inspirational.
now if I could only get my fat ass in gear and exercise too.

My dad and my uncle who are very healthy in their 80's have a very simple theory for fitness and longevity. It must be in the genes, as I too have inherited it.

- we all are endowed by our creator with a fix number of breaths - faster we use them up, sooner we are called up by our creator. So the trick for longer stay on earth is to prolong each breath by slower and deeper breathing so our quota of breath can last for more years. Exercise increases the frequency of breath, and thus it uses up our life's quota faster.

- Our body is like a precious car, less you drive, longer it lasts. That is the law that applies to all matters - less any object is used or moved, longer it lasts, longer it remains in its given condition. Body too would last longer if it is used sparingly, only on a need-to basis. Why depreciate body with useless and meaningless body movements? Be lazy and be happy. My wife does not agree and calls it all kinds of names. But it works!

I envy you Dee. I wish I could say anything at all with such certainty about my lifestyle. Your post sounds very inspiring, I must say. Made me wanna start.

What an inspiring article! Thank you for writing this.

SS, Aditi and Seema, maybe you guys too could get some health regime rolling and write about it? Be it yoga, walking, eating right etc?

We can be each others DC support group and maybe infect more people to join our madness?;)

Kerty, er.. I am an atheist. When I am dead, I am dead till then I plan to feel good and look good;)

kerty: it is somewhat true that health is in the genes....HOWEVER that does not mean the same as "hereditary". I hope you understand that one can alter the expression/ function of their "good" genes or suppress and nullify the "bad" genes by eating healthy, sleeping well and by exercise. it is a misconception that genetic make-up cannot be altered at all. Several genes involved in aging, DNA repair, etc can be functionally altered by external stimuli. Example: smoking damages DNA and caffeine inhibits the genes that repair this damage. so excessive amounts of smoking coupled with caffeine intake can increase your chances of cancer.

Dee: I really like this idea. We can have a joint health column with execise tips, healthy food recipes etc. sounds like fun.

Cool Aditi, I bought this tattered health book at the Book store that I plan to review soon.

Great,but the key is to stay with it and never quit..and also avoid all that protein crap and do your own research about diets and stuff,chances are your trainer follows some outdated nutrition regime

Deepti

Fitness regimem is lot like a religion - one needs unyielding faith, unquestioning devotion, unwavering commitment, dogmatized rituals, never-quit fanaticism, and missionary zeal to preach its virtues. It promises looking good and feeling good to the faithfuls. Me? I remain a skeptic, an atheist. I look for alternative ways to look and feel, lying on a couch or sofa or chair, glued to TV or computer or book or phone or family. I hope to die lying down.

Aditi, you say sleeping well is important. But these days the only way most people find the time to exercise given their hectic schedules is to cut down on the sleep.

I know some at one of the companies I worked for leave their homes at 6 in the morning so that they can reach their workplace after a real workout.

These people may look trim, but their faces looked gaunt and ten years older than they were.

I guess one has to strike a balance and not get carried away by this fitness mania and overdo it. Fitness is about several factors like diet, sleep and exercise. Paying attention to only the last and overlooking the others (as many do) is not the best way to achieving it.

Ledzius: Fitness is not just looking thin or good. Health is not defined by your trainer, but by your doctor who looks at your blood sugar, cholesterol, Triglycerides, body fat, hormones (for women) etc. And this is not fitness mania...its the best anti-aging formula. I personally feel that people can get enough sleep and get a workout if they can skip some TV time or incorporate exercise while watching TV. I know should probably take my own advice. Its a vicious circle really: increased weight can cause sleep apnea which can cause you to feel sleepy and tired even after sleeping through the whole night.

Also, Ledzius: the people who look gaunt may be on a diet or something that you are not aware of.

three very important words:

work/life balance.

although I will say that the Indian workplace is not conducive to that. Indian bosses expect blood and do not care if you die in your chair of a heart attack, they just want their pound of flesh for their inflated salaries.

I was chastized for missing work when I was pregnant because of pre-natal exams. I was also given a hard time when I was hospitalized during my pregnancy for missing work. There was no concern for my health or the health of my baby, they just wanted work work work. total crap. I wish that was not an overgeneralization, but all the people I know with jobs similar to the one I had, had the same complaints. men were made to feel bad if they requested time for family events, and I was even instructed to hire mostly single men to avoid people using family as an excuse for not working!

And I know if I get a good workout in in the AM, I feel energized and happy throughout the day, even if I did lose a bit of sleep. the more fit you are, the less sleep you ened (within reason, of course... no one should dip below 6 hours on a regular basis)

I wanted to make drastic change in my diet but both my instructor and dietitian were against it. They told me I would lose weight but start looking haggard and will probably stop working out altogether.

The damn workouts are so tough I have to eat. Thing is to eat right.

Kerty, its a wholesome diet, fruits, veggies,soup, salad, few carbs, proteins and lots and lots of water.

Sleep is very important. I was on my feet the entire day yesterday and barely slept last night and today at the gym I was beat.

I know a few firms that have gyms and personal trainers as well. Thing is people either have to come very early or stay after work to use the gym.

Yesterday I received a mail that my Gym card has been deactivated as I had not been there for a long time
Got to go today
Got to go now

Sorry, not Kerty- but kela.

Amitabh, its called slacking;)

routine gym stuff can get boring ,mixit up with other stuff ,try kick boxing

All my grandparents live(d) past 85. None of them ever went to a gym, jogged several miles a day, or drank non-fat milk (there was no such concept in India back then). They believed in doing everything in moderation, and eat a balanced diet (which meant normal S Indian vegetarian food with a lot of vegetables and spices). No protein shakes and all that nonsense. True they didn't have the ultra-slim bodies and six pack abs which you find in fitness magazines these days. But they were basically healthy and active and that's what really counted.

I think these fad routines you find in the West these days actually do more harm than good. On the one hand you are advised not to eat empty carbs, but the sports drinks and energy bars that go along with high endurance sports are precisely that. And an overdose of protein can actually damage kidneys in the long run.

More important than exercise is to avoid highly processed food that is common in the West. It is a shame that some Indians who migrate to the West start eating hot dogs and all the other cancer-causing stuff to just "fit in". I also find the same thing happening in Bangalore where many Indians seem to buy these kinds of food which are bad for health.

When I went to the US I also thought that Indian food was bad compared with the "health" food available in Western countries. Then I read about how many of the ingredients used in Indian cooking (like haldi) actually have a lot of benefits (including preventing Alzheimers). Of course, my own grandparents were a living testimony to this. They were mentally sharp right into their old age.

Nowadays I wonder whether these Indians who indulge in these crazy exercise routines to stay in shape will actually lead better and longer lives than my grandparents on the average. All that effort gets negated if they get cancer because they indulged in poor dietary choices just to appear Westernized.

Leduiz, sports drinks are actually for those who do heavy exercises or plays games for long durations. Energy bars make better alternative than grabbing cholla kulcha. Ideally carrying an apple instead of an energy bar is a better idea. But given a choice between kulcha cholla or an energy bar I would definitely prefer the latter.

Not all Americans depend on processed food. Sure one gets supersized meals and the desserts are heavenly but we aren't pigs, right? There are also soup and salad bars over there and health stores which aren't so good in India.

Fact is I found biochemic medicines there more effective than the ones found here. For the five years I was there I never once went to the doctor except to the OB-GYNs. I lived on biochemic medicines.

Aaman never once fell sick there. But guess what? once back in India the inhaler became his bosom pal.

India is far more polluted and dirty than America and more diseases to catch.

The rate of obesity amongst children and adults is on the rise in India. People in my age groups are having heart attacks, are over weight or lead unhealthy lifestyles due to work stress.

Sure, our grandparents lead longer lives. But those who weathered the British rule generally speaking didn't lead luxurious lives. They were hard working active folks and the environment wasn't so polluted.

But then again my grandparents who led healthy lifestyles both suffered from ailments. My grandfather had a spinal problem and my grandmother high blood pressure. As Aditi said genes do come into play as well.

Growing up we kids used to play on the roads. Localities were safe and kids even used to have matches till ten in the night. Couples used to go for night walks. Gone are those days when our kids and we could do such things around the block.

Even if it was safe we'd all get lung cancer from pollution or get bitten by strays that Meneka Gandhi refuses to get rid off.

So where do we go to be active? Gym or join some yoga, aerobic classes or even dancing classes. Not all of us are lucky to have Lodhi Gardens as our backyards.

Working out is known to improve ones mood. Frankly I don't see any narcissistic people at the gym most are just regular people who like working out and most are quite friendly.

With Indians I don't see processed food being such a problem as is eating out. One of my friend got enlarged liver because of her liking restaurant food and one of my mom's friend's landed up with Hepatitis A since she too liked to eat out.

Deepti:

very inspiring article. Inspiration is contangious as you could see from the comments.

I feel gifted, staying very near to Gnan Bharati- Bangalore University, walking every morning inside the campus, with all the long stretch of forest. Every morning I take advantage of abundance of oxygen from the thick foliage, with every deep breath taking the sweet fragrance of fresh blossom, tinged with the smell of lemon grass, oh its a heaven inside Bangalore hell.

Dee, you are right regarding work stress. Some losers in the IT sector I have come across work themselves to death at the expense of any kind of family time. American women would divorce their husbands if the latter did this. It is sad that many Indian women put up with this though.

Unfortunately enough, these workaholics set the standard for others to emulate within an organization. Anyone who doesn't work at least 12 hours a day is perceived as slacking off. The pressure is greater in companies which are MNCs and many of the local employees would go to any lengths to please their white masters.

It is highly tragic since it results in dysfunctional families besides screwing up health.

As you also mention, they are forced to eat out on a daily basis and this only makes matters worse.

So where do we go to be active? Gym or join some yoga, aerobic classes or even dancing classes. Not all of us are lucky to have Lodhi Gardens as our backyards.

One only needs a 6' x 2' space to practice yoga, not Lodhi Gardens.

But given a choice between kulcha cholla or an energy bar I would definitely prefer the latter.

False dilemma. Chole-kulcha is not the only "Indian" option available.

Not all Americans depend on processed food. Sure one gets supersized meals and the desserts are heavenly but we aren't pigs, right?

Yeah, but eating unhealthy processed food, food on the run, microwaved "food" instead of healthy food is a lot more ingrained in the American culture and society, and is promoted much more - with new fads and new "foods" in colorful packages with PICTURES of real food (though taking a look at the list of ingredients reveals that deception) hitting the market - than promoting healthy meals, which actually are quite basic - grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils. I doubt that there's any more "research" left to do to figure this out, in fact most cultures and traditions (Italian, French, Indian, Mexican, Mediterranean) for the most part, do get their food right, whereas America without any culture or tradition is flailing in the dark, reliant on the latest "scientific" discovery (funded by food companies of course) to find its way, and then exporting those unhealthy food habits around the globe leading to the same health problems in other countries that are prevalent in the US. Also, most "research" related to food or diseases is focused on the molecular level and not so much on prevention.

"America without any culture or tradition is flailing in the dark"

uh, really? come on now, are you just spitting out the latest rhetoric without even thinking? cause that is the way it looks.

most people I know in the US eat all kinds of foods, and very little if any of it is preprepared. At my house I prepare Indian, Italian, Thai, Mexican...

I have to tell you that the average middle class Indian diet is none too healthy. Many Indian foods are laden with oil and ghee or butter. It's just that most people do not have enough money to get fat off of it. But that is changing. Take a walk around any major city and see how fat the average desi has grown. More money for oil and ghee. Eating more chaat. And the average life expectancy in India is still very low with heart disease and diabetes still leading the causes of death.

You can swing things any way you want Kaffir... see, we can all "do" rhetoric.

Suresh, indeed you are lucky and during this season with the trees blooming the walk must be beautiful.

Yes kaffir, there are other alternatives but most office goers who dont carry home cooked meals don't eat subway sandwiches everyday and bad oil is toxic to the system.

SS, dunno where people get this idea about America. I miss those organic stores and most of all the yummy salads.

Ledzuis, given the way the economy is I don't see how the IT guys can put their foot down and return home at decent hours;)

most people I know in the US eat all kinds of foods, and very little if any of it is preprepared.

I'm not talking about anecdotal evidence. I can offer the whole spectrum of anecdotal evidences to support any position, even contradictory ones. That's neither here nor there.

I have to tell you that the average middle class Indian diet is none too healthy. Many Indian foods are laden with oil and ghee or butter.

Thanks for telling me. I guess I wasn't paying attention growing up in a middle class Indian family, and observing and experiencing what I ate and what other families, friends and relatives around me cooked and ate.

As for many Indian foods laden with oil, ghee, butter, what foods are you talking about? I grew up on Indian food and the food that was "laden" with ghee, oil, butter was quite rare and more of a treat during festivals. It depends on how your family decides to prepare the food, and how often is ghee-laden food eaten, and eating out for us was a rarity. The norm and everyday staple food was roti, daal and seasonal* sabzi; or rice and daal/beans; and some meat or fish once in 10-15 days. Yes, we also had fried food like puri and stuffed parathas, but that was not the staple. We also had plenty of healthy snacks like boiled mung beans with onions, tomato and lemon juice; or bhutta; or black chick-peas boiled and eaten like a snack.

And how is food "laden" with ghee any worse than "food" laden with chemicals, hormones and antibiotics in the US? BTW, "Whole Foods" is not the norm, and neither is it available to all - there's a reason it's also called "Whole Wallets."

Or any fried Indian food any worse than Lay's chips (the idea exported from the US) and their empty plastic bags that litter India?

The other myth that seems to keep perpetuating is that oil/ghee/butter in and of itself are bad. Yes, excessive oil and fried foods eaten on a regular basis are indeed unhealthy. But that does not translate into food with no ghee, no oil, or no butter being healthy. As an experiment, try eating only foods with zero fat for a month and tell me how healthy you feel - fat is essential for healthy functioning of our bodies. This knee-jerk reaction against fat is along the same lines as I now hear in the US when people avoid all corn - even healthy and unprocessed corn - after watching the documentary "King Corn."

As for diabetes, yes sedentary lifestyle coupled with eating sweets plays a role, but it's also been established that Asians/Indians have a genetic predisposition to it.

Not so long ago, palm oil and coconut oil were given a bad rep in the US based on "research" (I guess at that time, the funding was tied in to proving saturated fats as bad and promoting trans-fats as good) and now "research" has shown them (palm, coconut oils) to be acceptable and healthy.

It's the trans-fat foods in the US - used in most restaurants and for preparing on-shelf foods - that are responsible for health problems and are now being banned in cities one by one. Maybe you should look into the "science" that heavily promoted those trans-fats as "healthy" and acceptable in the first place.

Yes, obesity is a growing issue in India among the well-off, but obesity rates in the US are on the increase too.

Healthy food can be found in both countries - I'm talking more about the trends and what's promoted in the mainstream.

And ss, you prove my point by saying you cook Italian, Indian, Thai, Mexican - all coming from cultures and traditions that did not use modern science to prepare them. What's conspicuously missing from your list is American food, because what we associate "American" with are McD, Burger King, Wendy's, Lay's chips and all those crappy, unhealthy, pre-packaged foods. :-)

----
* the current trend and accepted "wisdom" in the US is now to return to eating locally, which translates to an extent to eating whatever is available seasonally.
Ghoom ke buddhu ghar ko aaye.

Deepti, if you read some books and essays by Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, and their research into the US food system, maybe you'll start getting the same idea about US food too.

I'm not sure where you get this idea that American food is the best and healthiest.

Interesting topics... health and food!

Lezduis you have a very romantic notion of India and a myopic one of the US to put it straight. I agree that Indian food is wholesome and healthy. It gives a lot of variety to vegetarians (with western food, I would not be able to survive long as a vegetarian). But it is wrong to say other cultures have unhealthy diets. Food evolved as per geography, needs and habits of the people living in a given region. With the new world, the geographical lines have disappeared and food is more about taste and less about sustenance.

Food in any culture is of two kinds. Festival food (the rich fare) and everyday food. All the problems with health these days come because you are eating festival food, meant to be eaten once in a while, everyday. Food was meant to satisfy hunger and just about tickle your senses. You now use food to consume your senses. That is where things are going wrong all over the world not limited to any geography. Here in the US also, things were very different 50 years ago. People did far more physical work and ate much smaller portions.


Modern life-style, easy availability of processed food all add to the mix. In the earlier days people had no option but to exercise. You had to walk to buy your veggies, to the place of work you the household chores etc. Most people of the previous generation had some sort of the exercise routine built into their daily lives. Yoga and morning walk were very common. It is wrong to say that the previous generation had great health without exercise.

And India is fast moving towards the processed food culture whereas US is moving back to natural foods. The last time I was in India I heard Ads on the radio that sang 'aaya processed food ka zamaana' extolling the virtues of processed food. In US that would amount to professional suicide for the company.

Talking of modes of exercise. Dee I think one just needs to be creative. I have lived in all sorts of places and have found a method to exercise (when I want to i.e). Walking is a great way to lose fat. If there isn't a gym, you can do yoga. Surya Namashkar by itself is complete. I don't have a gym in my current apartment complex, I just do some dance vidoes (which are fun and healthy) along with Yoga (which is the best from the srtetching perspective as well as feel-good factor).

Ofcourse we all know moderation is the key to a healthy life. But I for one am not wired to be moderate. I live and eat life king-size.. so I have to compensate on king-size as well :)

Cheers





Deepti 'Chole Kulche' are not that bad. Chole are protien and yes, Kulche are refined flour so not so good.

Lez says :

"Some losers in the IT sector I have come across work themselves to death at the expense of any kind of family time. "

------------------------
Talk about them! And if one of those idiots is your boss then you have had it. They will pressurize you, expect you to spend all your waking hours at work and then give you the dumb line 'I am here too'. I had told one of them lightly(but pointedly), it is not my problem that you don't have a life.

And I agree with SS. Indian bosses are a pain. I am not saying American bosses don't make you work your ass off. But they understand that if you work week-ends you are doing them a favour. And if you say you have a personal life it is not taken against you. e.g I don't have to be going to a doctor or something as drastic for not coming in on a week-end. I could be going for a trekking trip and be unavailable and unapologetic about it. With most Indian bosses that is not possible. And it is worse if you are single. It is assumed that since you don't have family responsability you will be available 24/7.

Though I wouldn't say all desi are like that. My last Indian boss was a cool guy with a life outside work. But most of them are like that, no interests, no hobies and no life except work...losers!

Thanks for giving me an outlet Lez :)

kaffir... you are a hoot... total stereotype spouting rhetoric.

good luck with that. we all know better.

The most basic fitness based formula is 'calories burned subtracted from calories consumed'.
If you burn less than what you consume, excess energy will be stored as fat in your body. If you burn what you consume, you will remain stable. If you burn more than you consume, you will loose weight.
To be functioning properly, the body does need a certain basic minimum of carbohydrates and fat, so it is not good for the body to go on "zero-fat/ zero-carb" diets. By cutting down on various types of food, we may miss out on essential complex vitamins and nutrients and weaken our immunity.
Keeping this in mind, I feel vigorous exercise is an absolute must. I would rather eat 3000 calories worth tasty food per day and burn 3200 calories in the gym rather than diet consuming only 1000 calories and burn 1200 calories with little or no exercise.
As for food, just keep the calorie equation in mind. For example, one should have a fair idea of how much a cheeseburger will add to your calorie count, and how much exercise will be needed to burn it off.
It takes one hour of vigorous aerobics to completely burn two scoops of ice-cream.
However, the diet should be balanced, with plenty and plenty of WATER, FRUITS, VEGETABLES and FIBRE, along with all your chicken, cheese and chips.

Ayan

Metabolism is a key factor - rate at which a person would burn calories during a normal day. Two persons can do same activity and yet burn different amount of calories. So metabolism is very much part of person's physical profile. Fortunately, one can increase the metabolism with diet, exercise and change in life-style. Since it is hardest to change lifestyle or diet, exercise is the only option left that is least disruptive.

Our way of life creates our physical environment - set of activities we must do to get thru a typical day - but if that is not sufficient to burn the normal calory intake, than what to do? If large number of people need exercise to remain normal, we should examine the efficacy of way of life and diet that we have chosen as a society.

Ayan - "The most basic fitness based formula is 'calories burned subtracted from calories consumed'.

This reductionist way of viewing things, focusing too much attention on just the calorie value is a fundamental mistake many people make.

Food is not just a calories vs exercise game. There is a lot more to it. Not every food that is low in calories is good nor vice versa. Unfortunately, this myopic way of looking at food has been actively promoted by vested interests (like the food industry, gym industry and so on).

If you eat a lot of processed junk food, just burning off the calories by exercising doesn't make it okay. When you eat junk food, you displace a lot of micronutrients and antioxidants that you would have consumed otherwise. And when you eat too much fat, you increase your chances of getting various types of cancer, and this is independent of whether you exercise to get rid of it once it is in your bloodstream. Even with lean foods like low fat smoked deli, all the nitrates in the meat can cause cancer.

In the past, Indian food had a holistic approach, and had a wide range of ingredients. The same could be said of other cultures (like Mediterranean, Italian, etc).

It is only now we find people indulging in hamburgers for lunch and then just "burning it off" by working out at the gym, as though that would make it alright. The fact is, hamburgers are junk food, exercise notwithstanding. Even if the cholesterol doesn't kill you, you greatly increase the chances of developing colon cancer.

Aayan, ideally one should try to stay away from fried and processed food. They are toxic. But I agree one can't get anal about these things either. Once in a while is fine but as such one should watch what they eat and exercise regularly.

Here is a summary from the peer-reviewed paper "Cancer incidence rates among South Asians in four geographic regions: India, Singapore, UK and US":

"We observed the lowest total cancer incidence rates in India (111 and 116 per 100 000 among males and females, respectively, age-standardized to the 1960 world population) and the highest among US whites (362 and 296). Cancer incidence rates among Indians residing outside of India were: intermediate Singapore (102 and 132), UK (173 and 179) and US ranges 152-176 and 142-164."

In other words, American whites seem to have 3 times the cancer rates because of the processed, meat-heavy diets they indulge in, compared to Indians.

Also, what I find very unfortunate is the fact that "Indian food" has become synonymous with greasy Punjabi food. S Indian food, with its simpler way of cooking vegetables is much healthier than the former. So I really don't want Punjabi food to be representative of what I eat.

Added to this is the fact that many urban Indians these days seem to have late dinners (after 10pm in many cases) compared to the previous generations. In fact, Americans are better in this regard. In fact, there is nothing wrong with having a drink after dinner or early supper, but many Indians seem averse to it.

my two word contribution to this topic

jim fix

;)

Ledzuis, back when I visited my village in Himachal they gave me a big glass of Lassi, muli paranthas followed by dal halwa.

The villagers were all skinny and we urbanites- overweight.

Sedentary lifestyle does us in. I still am on Punjabi food. But without the aloo paranthas(instead I can have methi paranthas cooked on non stick pan), the koftas, pakoras and butter chicken.

Instead- tandoori chicken, whole wheat atta roties without ghee, regular sabzis and lots of dal without the ghee tarka and soya milk since I am lactose intolerant.

Once in a while I have idlis for breakfast but stay away from rice, dosa etc. Sambhar is fine but again no south Indian styled chicken.

We continue to eat our food at 7:30 in the evening and yes it is an American habit.

T- Jim fix? Whiskey? Scotch? MJ?

dee

unhunh


jim fix is not a drink


(try fitness guru)

Led

As Kaffir has already pointed, most of the food fare is meant to be consumed only once in a while and not on a daily basis. People used to go out for dinner only once a week or so, and those restaurant fare made perfect sense. But now a days, many people eat out everyday, every meal, and suddenly, those restaurant fare is no longer cool.

Lots of food habits have survived agrarian era - they no longer make sense as those lifestyles have long gone. We refuse to evolve our food habits to suit the era.

Asians used to eat meat only once or twice a week in their homeland, but upon immigrating to USA, they eat it on daily basis, inviting many physical disorders among Asian immigrants.

Indian physique has evolved over a typical conditioning that evolved in the continent for a millenium - so when Indians adept to western lifestyles or western food habits, they find their body not cooperating. Arteries of Indians tend to be very narrow because they never had to evolve to bigger size partly due to diet conditioning in India. When subjected to non-Indian diet rich in cheese and meats, these narrow arteries can not cope with it, creating a high incidence of BP and heart ailments among Indians.

There is nothing wrong with hamburgers and Pizzas - they are not meant to be consumed on daily basis even though restaurants sell them on a daily basis. Onus is on people to know what they should eat, how much and how often. Eating once used to be confined within a caring and loving family institution that could govern what people within a family ate - but now that eating is commercialized enterprise subject to heavy-handed marketing, enticements and excesses. The onus of restraint is not on those who sell hamburgers, but on consumers those must decide if those burgers and pizzas should be in their diet plan for a given day.

kerty - "There is nothing wrong with hamburgers and Pizzas - they are not meant to be consumed on daily basis even though restaurants sell them on a daily basis."

Fair enough. But I have seen a lot of well-to-do white Americans who do precisely that. No, I'm not talking about rednecks in Alabama, but very educated people in Silicon Valley that I worked with. One guy had a hamburger and chips every day for lunch. Many others bring deli sandwiches from home, which were just bread and cured meat with not even a shred of lettuce in them.

Sure, these people were quite trim, active, into mountain biking and all that, but they looked ten years older than they were.

For many whites, being a vegetarian or having tofu is like being a bleeding heart liberal, and they would stay away from them for that reason. They are unfortunate victims of this American tendency to pin a political label on anything and everything, however irrelevant they might be.

As screwed up as this mindset was, there was no reason for fob Indians to follow this. However I have come across a few (fortunately most know better) who would switch to hot dogs and beef burgers the moment they land there. It is as if they were embarrassed all their lives to have eaten home-made food back at their parents' place. Sure enough they would start gymming or jogging, but this would be more of a statement that they've become "Americanized".

I am not sure if this radical change in lifestyle that they embark on would actually help them or hurt them in the long run.

The other thing I found amusing was the tendency of vegetarian Indians there hosting outdoor barbeque parties so as to appear like "true" Americans to their neighbours and white American friends. They toast veggies on skewers and also those tofu veggie patties meant for Americans which taste horrible. This whole exercise seemed a bit amusing.

When they move back to India (as many of them have), they return to their senses, and all the barbeque parties become history. In my apartment complex, the outdoor barbeque grill gets used maybe once or twice a year.

And thankfully, even McDonalds and Subway offer tastier veggie patties than the one we were stuck with in the US.

Deepti,

For the past 34 years I have included a physical fitness routine in my daily life; mostly aerobic. I've been to countless gyms and logged thousands of miles running. I now need and crave it as much as food. Research indicates exercise also stimulates brain activity in addition to the obvious physical advantages.

The benefits are too numerous to count, but wear and tear on the body is a reality not to be ignored; as I learned after requiring major back surgery.

I don't know if exercise will prolong or shorten my existence, but it sure makes life sweeter.

Ciao, Guido

I love that Ledz drew conclusions that seem to not be in the paper. was this a paper about the correlation between diet and cancer, ledz? Because if not, please do not quiet your day job. what a laugh! you've made the most amazing leap there!

also I like that you've extrapolated your experience in an office to include all americans. nice!

too funny. also other cultures do veg shish-kebab. this is not an exercise in appearing american, although apparently you just hate america so you spout ridiculousness at every turn.

Oh an Kerty, please do show your reference for this "Indians have more narrow arteries" business. I want to see the study. My physician husband is not even aware of it. You are very advanced, apparently and know things before the medical community.

you ledz and kaffir should join up together and re-write history!

Guido, I don't use a couple of machines nor do certain exercises since I have a weak back but there are other yoga exercises that I do under my instructor's supervision to strengthen my back.

I am addicted to the damn gym. I plan to go tomorrow and its a Sunday!

t,
Mine is -Vishu

dee, the best thing you can do for a weak back is to strengthen your abdominal muscles... I am sure your trainer has told you the same :)

Don't I and my abs know it;)

SS

I first heard of it from my doctor relatives. It seems to be a common knowledge within Indian medical community.

You can Google for many more links on this subject. Here is a small sampling:-

(1) "Asian Indians have the highest incidence of Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes and Heart Disease among all ethnic groups living on this Globe! Asian Indian population living in the United States of America comprises of people from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Observational studies over last fifty years from Singapore, United Kingdom and many other countries all around the world have shown that Asian Indians not only have a very high incidence of heart disease but they are also affected by it at a much younger age. Men and women, vegetarians and non vegetarians and smokers and non smokers are all affected by heart disease. Heart disease is declining in the Western population where is it is rising on an epidemic scale in Indians living in the U.S and the Indian Sub-Continent. Asian Indians have a very high incidence of metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes and diabetes which predispose them to heart disease. Sedentary life style, unhealthy culinary practices and nutrition are the environmental factors that trigger the genes responsible for heart disease, heart attacks and sudden cardiac death"

Read full paper here
http://www.heartsmart.info/impaired.html

SS


(2) Read on page 4 of the following link - It states that Indians have unique genetic, biochemical and anatomic abnormalities that makes them vulnerable to developing serious coronary artery disease at a very early age:

Read the whole paper:
http://www.iswonline.org/events/2006/CoronaryDisease_DrParulkar_GB.pdf

(3) "A lot of research is going on. One finding suggests that Asians are genetically predisposed to certain risk factors responsible for CHD(Coronary Heart Disease) and migration and westernization unmask these risks."

Read the whole paper
http://www.sherwoodtherapy.co.uk/pdf/article_ili_HeartDisease.pdf

kerty, uh, yeah the other stuff is common knowledge, but can you find me the bit about the narrower arteries? what you are saying and what those papers say are 2 different things.

SS

The 'genetic and anatomic abnormalities' in the context of coronary issues, in laymen terms, means having issues with arteries - that is how doctors I know explain it to me - Arteries normally get narrower due to plaque build up, but in case of Indians, they are genetically narrow to begin with, thus any plaque buildup compounds the risks for Indians. I am sure if you google it, you can find exact references that puts it in layman's language. I have two patients in my own extended family who need bypass redone but can not as none of their remaining arteries are big enough that can be used for bypass surgery.

SS

"PEOPLE from the Indian subcontinent have narrower coronary arteries than white Europeans, say researchers at a British hospital. This may help explain their unusually high risk of developing heart disease."

Here is a link
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320692.600-science--narrow-arteries-fail-indian-hearts.html

OK, well... you say bypass RE-done (in regards to your relatives)... um is that because of age and atherosclerosis, not necessarily because they are Indian.

and uh, that reference is from EFFING 1997! if it were a medial truth, kerty, I think there would be more said about it. and uh, that study you quote... 27 patients! wow! that's a major study there Kerty. I am sure that JAMA was right on that!

SS

I posted the first link that showed up on Google. If you like to know more on the subject, I am sure you can find plenty more links on internet.

SS

"The cardiology team at Birmingham City Hospital examined the angiograms of 27 cardiology patients from the subcontinent, and 59 white patients. The average coronary artery diameter of the first group was 24.32 millimetres against 26.15 millimetres for the white patients"

The above sample size is used for measuring the differences in diameter of the artery. You don't need a very large sample for making high level anatomical observations. If the findings could be contradicted by clinical evidence, other studies would usually follow. If you Google internet, you probably can find more on the subject. I am not trained in Medicine and what several doctors I know tell me is good enough for me.

kerty - you are wasting your time trying to convince ss.. she is not one to ever admit that she was wrong..

no ledz, I will admit I am wrong WHEN I am wrong. Here I am not going to concede to some study that is over 10 years old with not nearly enough statistical evidence and the word of 3 physicians who also feel the whole think is not very scientific.

but nice personal attack. get back to me when you have something to contribute other than whinging.

Well great kerty, let's call it a high-level anatomical observation then. sure the medical community is OK with that kind of vaguery for diagnostic purposes.

SS: I hate to be butting in...but every year there are new risk factors identified for a certain disease. Honestly, as a scientist, I do not think that how old the paper is should matter...otherwise we would have to keep publishing Watson-Crick's data to ensure DNA structure was still the same.

Secondly, I do understand that your husband is a physician but most physicians sadly do not keep themselves updated about the research in the scientific field; and then again it is almost impossible for them to keep track of every study. It is quite possible that your husband may not be aware of this particular risk factor.

The information about narrower arteries is only a rationale for why people of a certain continent may have a predisposition to heart disease. The narrow artery finding is only relevant for cardio surgeons who may be operating on patients with coronary heart disease. Personally, I don't understand why you would question the validity of such a study especially since the link kerty included is not the link to the actual study but some news journalist's 200-word take on what the study is.

kerty at most times makes verbose, hollow arguments for the sake of arguing and even here in a discussion about healthy living he/ she seems to be grossly misinterpreting "predisposition" or risk factors as irreparable hereditary genetic make-up which cannot be influenced by environmental stimuli such as exercise or eating high-fiber food. While I completely disagree with him, I cannot agree with your stand-point that a scientific study is BS simply because it is old (and in the slow field of scientific research 1997 is NOT old!). Also, most studies are approved for publication after ensuring that their statistical analysis is sound. I believe the news link kerty provided does not go into the statistical models used and so we cannot criticize them.

That being said this study has absolutely no implications whatsoever, as kerty seems to be implying, on whether or not a person should live healthy.

aditi... no, thank you for butting in. and I agree with what you have said mostly. I think the time of the article is relevant, because I do feel that if it had traction as the basis for something, more would have been written about it recently, no?

anyway. yes, the people I asked absolutely might not be aware of the study.that I also agree with.

that being said, you are a scientist. this is your field of expertise. I am much more likely to listen to what you have to say than kerty on this subject. If you say it's relevant, then I am willing to say OK.

(that, and eat your words, Ledz. Speaking of which, never seen you admit you were wrong even when confronted by like 10 people at once.)

This reminds me of the study I read some time back that said people who are vegetarians are six times more likely to suffer from brain shrinkage.

But then I found the link to show me the validity of the report in TOI:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/Eating_veggies_shrinks_the_brain/articleshow/3480629.cms

Obviously there will be some other report to show the ill effects of being a meat eater.

Aditi

"this study has absolutely no implications whatsoever, as kerty seems to be implying, on whether or not a person should live healthy."

There is no implication that Indians should not live healthy because of inherent health risk factors associated with Indians. I merely pointed out the obvious that certain lifestyles and dietary habits do not cooperate with Indians as they increase their health risks.

Dear Dee,

Food and health, my favorite topics. For the last five years I have switched to 50% raw diet and it has been wonderful. No headaches, no fevers. In my opinion food is THE major factor affecting our health, even more than lifestyle and hereditary factors.

When it comes to health one must take care of oneself. It is good to consult a doctor periodically to get a diagnosis, but I tend totally ignore their precription medicines. In fact our family never uses prescription medicines including antibiotics. We have totally switched to home remedies and supplementation when needed. Many of the doctors I have consulted tend to treat their patients like automobiles. The more repairs the better - for them.

I excerise irregularly, but maintain a strict control over my diet. It has certainly helped.

Regards,

Ravi

Ravi K:

""Many of the doctors I have consulted tend to treat their patients like automobiles. The more repairs the better - for them.""

interesting imagery!

kaffir... you are a hoot... total stereotype spouting rhetoric.

Which part was a stereotype/rhetoric and why? You are quite welcome to do your research into all I mentioned: coconut/palm oil, trans-fat, what goes into meat production in the US, obesity rates in the US etc.

And you yourself mentioned what kinds of foods you cook. Are you saying you were spouting rhetoric?

Seems to me that you are incapable of eating the humble pie, even though it's filled with fruits and quite healthy for you. ;-)

you ledz and kaffir should join up together and re-write history!

Why? Just because I challenge your dearly-held and so-called "liberal/progressive" views? Or is it because you've formed an image of me based on some comments and are unable to look past it? Labels, labels...

Also, criticism is not the same as hating America. Whatever I said about food system in the US has been said by many other Americans - Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food), Marion Nestle (Food Politics, What to Eat), Peter Singer (The Way We Eat), Frances Moore Lappe, the documentary "King Corn", the locavore movement, and increasing calls to join CSAs and support local farmers as a way to fix what's broken. Time to catch up on your reading dear. BTW, all these authors are coming from a perspective that would be considered "left" by folks like you - FWIW.

Bottom-line: America has an effed up relationship with food which is the cause of many health and environmental problems. And it is summarized by the reductionist view someone mentioned above, about food being just a calorie.

As an aside, it's amusing to see you spouting the same rhetoric that Hindutva conservatives use for Hindu-haters. See, you both (left/right) mirror each other so well in your attitudes as well as the terms used. ;-)

Ravi, whats the raw part apart from fruits and salads? I can't imagine having my veggies raw except for maybe peas.

One of my uncles maintains a strict diet, eats less and eats right. He is in his 70s but looks in his early sixties.

Deepti, raw food is a bit of a misnomer, as it also includes food that has been "cooked" in a dehydrator - basically, slow cooking at a low temperature so as to not destroy the enzymes. When cooked in that manner, you can get raw food that's along the same lines as regular food - pasta, chips and salsa, pizza, noodles etc. Here's a sample menu:
http://queserawseraw.com/menu.htm

Dear Deepti,

Here is a typical menu:

Moong sprouts
Baby carrots
Broccoli
Red or yellow bell peppers
Persian cucumbers
Tomato
Celery
Almonds
Pomegranate
Persimmon
Pears
Apples

Some are seasonal and some are not available everywhere. I learned the goodness of raw food after attending a session of Siddha Samadhi Yoga by RSVK (rsvk.org). During the sessions, they make the yummiest raw food faire I have ever tasted. My own is not even close, but I follow similar diet.

Regards,

Ravi

Thanks Ravi, sounds delicious

I love reading the posting! It really interest me. Thank you for posting this kind of information. It will help a lot of people especially those who are at risk in coronary heart disease.