My journey begins in India

I spent the first half of my life. Though I visit there every few years, it wasn’t until recently that I noticed that every other person has diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), or a combination. Then I realized why that is—the prevalent lifestyle and diet, of course, although research does indicate that there is a genetic tendency as well.

Entertaining in India

A common social activity in India is visiting and hosting friends, which happens often almost daily or several times a week. And to tell you the truth, I really miss that here in the U.S. The unhealthy part of it is that the hostess generally serves a sugar sweetened drink such as tea, coffee, or lemonade, along with cookies and/or other junk food. A new trend is that the guests themselves bring more unhealthy snacks for the hostess to add to her pantry of highly refined carb snacks. 

Exercising in India

The above mentioned social practice is compounded by the fact that many urban Indians live sedentary lives. For many people, reasons for this include a lack of opportunities or resources for exercising, crowded cities that have few natural areas for going for walks, etc., and a hot climate for much of the year. Further, gyms are few and are quite expensive. India also lacks a culture of fitness—exercise is often seen as an indulgence. 

My Journey and the Birth of a blog

Having seen all these factors at play, I naturally became very concerned about my own health and that of my mother’s friends.
As a result, I decided to start a Facebook page to help guide them toward a more healthy lifestyle. Later, I met an old school friend, a university business professor, who encouraged me to start a blog instead of a Facebook page. 

The next step was creating a name for my blog, and in all honesty, that took several months to do. I am so grateful to those friends whose feedback regarding the content, name, and logo helped bring you the blog you’re reading at this moment.

In June, I was finally ready to launch my blog. It takes time to write new posts, because for most of them, I do a lot of research, whether it is through other websites, journal articles, or books. I desire to teach, help, encourage, and motivate all of you to strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I am on this journey myself. 

My journey as a grad student in the US

Speaking of my journey, here’s why I got into the field I chose in 2010.
I was very interested in becoming a dietician, but was advised not to consider that path since it would mean doing 2 years of chemistry. I hadn’t studied any math or science after 10th grade.
(Instead, I received my Masters in English Literature from India as well as a teaching certification.)
After I was dissuaded from dietetics, I shifted my focus to pursuing health promotion to work in employee wellness. Seeing the opportunities present in the town we lived in at the time, Boone, NC, I decided to pursue the clinical track of an exercise science masters degree. My practical work experience was in cardiopulmonary rehab and in employee wellness at the local hospital.

After graduating I took the ACSM Clinical Exercise Physiologist exam and became certified.
A few years later, I also acquired the ACSM Exercise is Medicine Level III Credential.

In 2019, on the recommendation of a friend, I became an NASM Certified Personal Trainer. 

An interesting fact about me is that I never really exercised. I love to walk though, and can walk for hours at a time, especially if I have company. In fact, when I was getting into the Exercise Science program, I used to joke that I would supervise my husband while he exercised! (He actually did exercise, unlike me.)
As it turned out, one of the best things about grad school was learning how important exercise is for promoting health and helping prevent chronic conditions. That is what motivates me on my journey even now.
Read my post on the Benefits of Exercising.

Disabling health conditions and my journey

During our time in NC, I developed a condition called
Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome, although it wasn’t diagnosed for several years. That was a limiting factor for walking. After I was finally diagnosed, over the course of a year, I had 2 surgeries, one on each of my lower legs. Brutal! 
I had a meniscal repair in 2018, and now have further issues in the other knee.

Making healthy dietary changes

For the most part, we have been diligent to eat healthy. Both my husband and I love our Indian cuisine, and we’ve been eating healthy versions of Indian food. We both had been gaining weight and my cholesterol levels are still slightly elevated (I can’t take statins).
We even reduced our portion sizes, but that didn’t seem to help either. In 2021 I said to my husband that we needed to do something different, because our current diet was not giving us the results we wanted. So, as I mentioned in my post about HbA1C, we started Intermittent Fasting (IF) after learning that IF can help reduce glucose and HbA1C levels. I initially lost a few pounds, but then plateaued.

On the advice of my doctor, we began the Mediterranean Diet while continuing with IF.

Where has your health journey led you?
Do you need to make any changes? Let me know in the comments below.

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