Together we create a promise of a lifetime

“I am joining the Saffolalife #ProtectHerHeart initiative and pledging my support to better heart health in Association with BlogAdda.”

Today morning when I logged in to my FB account, the first thing in my news feed was this video. It brought a smile on my face instantly. I was extremely inspired and happy seeing the video. I could place my husband and myself  in the video and relate to what has been happening these days. 

           

Although we have not been able to follow this regularly but we do realize the importance of being physically active regularly. Sometimes I tend to get lazy seeing my husband sleeping peacefully after his occasional late night work schedules. I force myself to wake up but the days when sleep over powers my will power I fall slop back on my bed again. It requires a lot of effort to avoid that and get going actively for a walk or any kind of physical activity. 

Due to this mismatch in our work schedules we decided to do little things together. We discussed this out with a doctor also. The doctor had advised me to follow certain specified time schedules for my various meals. I used to wait till 10:00 PM on some days for my husband to come home and then we had dinner post 10:00 PM, which is very wrong. So we decided to stick to our dinner schedule of 8:30 PM. I would have at home and if he got late at work he would have at his work place.Initially it was difficult for me to eat alone but my husband ensured that I followed this routine regularly. Now, I have started sticking to my dinner timings. 

I had this habit of having a cup of coffee in the morning and it used to be the only time I had coffee. I suffered with severe Vitamin D deficiency at one point which made me realize that apart from spending some time in sunlight I am also neglecting my health by not having adequate amount of milk in a day. My husband loves Horlicks. I have never had Horlicks till date. I was always a Boost lover. Only because he insisted me to try having Horlicks I tasted it one day and developed a liking to it. It is very rare now that I have coffee in the morning. He ensures that both of us have Horlicks with very less sugar in the milk in the morning. It has certainly made me develop a good habit which will help me have adequate amount of nutrition from milk. We do have coffee/tea occasionally but we keep that to the evenings on weekends. It is a small change but it is certainly helping us in some way. We also pop one or two dry fruits like Fig, Almonds while having milk in the morning.

I have to leave for office a little earlier than my husband so I used to always carry my breakfast in a box which I have never had on time. I was so busy with work that my breakfast was taken only at 11:00 AM which is certainly not recommended. Because of this, my husband started having breakfast with me in the morning and insisted me to have breakfast and then leave for work. At times when I was not in a mood to have chapati for breakfast he has handed over an apple to me and also help me make my Special K morning breakfast with milk. He has encouraged me to have good breakfast and not delay it because of work. 

We are not into too much of physical fitness activities together but whenever we get time we have made sure to take a walk. But it cannot be occasional. We may have different ways to be physically fit but going on a walk together certainly helps. We have also completed a 10 km run recently. We did not rehearse together, which could have certainly helped us perform better on the race day . Now, I have decided that for our next 5 km run we will rehearse together so that we can improve upon our timings. 

My first 5K

Our first 10 K together

My husband has encouraged me to do Yoga and after doing that I have felt major changes in my physical and mental health. I was not regular from the past one month which has affected my health. Because of too much work I neglected my health and stopped indulging in any physical activity. That is when my husband made me restart my yoga routine and also gave me the idea to take the help of a nutritionist and get into a strict fitness regime. 

More than physical activity, one has to also balance their lifestyle by taking healthy and nutritious food. We both reduced the in take of salt in our food, shifted to Low Sodium oil, Olive Oil and Rice Bran oil for cooking, tried including more pulses in the food, we do not eat too much junk outside. Whenever we go for watching movies we ensure that we either have dinner/ lunch and then go. In unavoidable cases we stick to sandwiches to fill our stomach. We both are foodies and love trying out different cuisines. I crave for a lot of things which are quite high in calories. The main one being ice cream. My husband has helped me overcome that craving. He also helped me in being regular with my meal plans. I love having oats but just because he doesn't like it much I used to avoid having it myself. He made me start having oats again and told me to make something simple for him for dinner if he was home early. 50% of our metabolism is based on the kind of diet we follow. My husband has never let me go on a diet but has been helping me over come that extra food craving that I have. Slowly I have started developing a will power. 

We are also including a lot of vegetables in our diet. Some times we have only soup and chapati for dinner. We have switched over to Multi grain flour for making chapatis. We have been regular with our Saturday and Sunday evening walk but we have decided from now that we will take out at least half an hour for our morning walk. According to WHO guidelines,minimum 150 minutes of physical activity is required for any individual to have a healthy heart. We have not reached that mark but we will soon be achieving that goal too. We pledge to walk together for a good metabolism and a good health. 

We also have been getting our Blood Glucose, Blood Pressure, Lipid Profile and Thyroid levels checked regularly. Our Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D status are also maintained. Getting a physical examination at least once in six months in essential for anyone above the age of 25. 

Together we have made a lot of changes in our diet and at the same time we vow to help each other in leading a healthy lifestyle. We have decided to take a short 30 minutes walk daily despite involving in any other fitness activity individually. 

So, as part of the Saffolalife #ProtectHerHeart initiative, I pledge to walk together with my husband daily for 30 min and take my first steps towards healthy weight management. This is the first step of being consistent. 

Slowly we would aim to do our running practice together for completing many more 10k runs with improvement in our timings each time. I have also influenced my husband by teaching him Yoga and make him do along with me at times. Although he hates doing it. 

We took the pledge to be together through thick and thin. Together we create a promise of a lifetime for our health.