A season of mood spells and maladies

The monsoon is when you are most vulnerable to disease. So while that street food may beckon, it’s best to avoid it. Here’s how

The monsoon is the time of the year when your immunity is at its lowest, the time when you need to be almost vigilante-like about what goes into your system.

From flu or stomach bug to the more taxing infections/diseases such as jaundice and typhoid, to the downright dangerous hepatitis A or E , there are any number of monsoon maladies. People with particularly sensitive systems are also susceptible to allergies, skin, respiratory and digestive problems. Doctors and nutritionists say the best way to counter the ill-effects of the season is to boost your immunity through regulated sleep, exercise and, of course, diet.

What your meals must not have

Culturally, the traditional cycle of eating followed by different communities is a good indicator of what foods to avoid when, says Mumbai-based food writer and author of My Mumbai Cookbook, Rushina Munshaw Ghildyal. For instance, she says, for Hindus, the period of Shradh that requires austere eating (when you restrict your diet to vegetarian) starts during the late monsoon. Jains have their annual fasting period about now; that is the time when they stop eating green, leafy vegetables. Gujaratis avoid heavy lentils (that are harder to digest) such as rajma; in Maharashtra, people stop eating seafood from June until Nariyal Poornima in August. “Fish is not a good idea because it degenerates quickly in this weather, and it’s also breeding season,” says Ghildyal.

Most of the diseases that prevail during the monsoon, such as diarrhoea, typhoid and jaundice, are waterborne. At the top of the list of things to avoid is anything that contains water from outside, says family physician and consultant at Breach Candy hospital, Mumbai, Vishakha Shivdasani, who specializes in nutrition. “This means skip the sev puri, bhelpuri, gola,” she says. Also, avoid anything uncooked such as salads, or cold cuts such as ham and salami, as they have a higher chance of bacterial infection. This also means you should maintain strict personal and kitchen hygiene, wash hands religiously, wash vegetables with potassium permanganate, and make sure everything is properly cooked because the high temperature and humidity levels are ideal for the growth of bacteria. Don’t keep leftovers in the fridge for too long; consume them within 24 hours, she adds.

In the monsoon, it is essential to consume foods that build immunity, and a diet consisting largely of junk food, refined sugar, white rice, and refined fats low in vitamins and minerals can weaken the immune system, says Delhi-based nutritionist Ishi Khosla. Care must be taken, therefore, that all your meals and snacks strengthen your immunity.

Must on your food platter

It was the era of no-refrigeration that gave birth to concepts such as consuming pakodas during the monsoon. Traditional monsoon fare, says Khosla, was preferably deep-fried because these were foods that could stay longer. Now these concerns are not quite valid thanks to refrigeration, she says.

“A healthy immune system requires a number of nutrients in balance, including proteins, essential fats, vitamins and minerals. A diet consisting of a variety of foods, adequate calories and rich in wholegrains, pulses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, low-fat dairy and fatty fish, low in sugar, alcohol and bad fats, along with a healthy lifestyle, is the key to good immune function,” says Khosla. Proteins help the body build antibodies, as do substances that contain beta carotene, B-complex vitamins, vitamins C and E.

The body craves something hot and spicy, and instead of eating samosasfrom a roadside vendor or an unreliable eatery (with a spicy chutney that may have been made with tap water), it’s better to have healthier substitutes at home. For instance, if you must have a pakoda, make sure it’s made with vegetables (instead of paneer, which is heavier) in lighter oil (such as olive oil, as opposed to mustard oil), or better still, a cooked salad or corn on the cob, says Dr Shivdasani. Use lots of sprouts—better still if heated. Green, leafy vegetables can be swapped with vegetables such as pumpkin or gourd, and red meat and fish skipped for some lightly cooked chicken, adds Ghildyal.

MONSOON MEALS

Follow these simple dietary guidelines during the rainy season

In general, diet should be light, low on fat and easily digestible. Rich, oily and spicy food must be avoided, as also extremely cold food and cold beverages as you are prone to catching influenza.

• One should avoid street food as the incidence of food-borne illnesses shoots up in this weather owing to favourable temperatures for increased microbial growth (especially bacteria). Also, street food is exposed to dust and flies, which also contribute to food-borne illnesses.

•Leftovers: Precooked food should always be refrigerated

and preferably consumed within 24 hours .

• Water: With the rain, incidents of waterborne infections such as typhoid, cholera, hepatitis and diarrhoea also tend to increase. Besides general hygiene and precautions in food, the quality of water also needs to be regulated.

Unfortunately, most tap and well water is not safe for drinking due to heavy industrial and environmental pollution. Water supplies from municipalities rarely meet standards.

A good water filtration system at home is the only way to ensure the quality and safety of drinking water. Water from community water systems can definitely be treated/purified at home through any of these processes—boiling, chemical treatment, filtration or reverse osmosis.

Binged on holiday? Try damage control You need to think of regrouping after a vacation, focusing on health and the business of healthy living. Here ar

Vacations, especially long ones, usually tend to lean towards indulgent food habits. Too much alcohol, wine, pina coladas or draught beer by the beach, and hot-off-the-oven pizzas and pastas, sugary doughnuts and gooey chocolatey deserts can upset the best thought out I-will-keep-fit plans. What is disturbing about such indulgences is that more than 4kg can sometimes be gained in a short span of two-three weeks.

Such “yo-yo” weight gain must be avoided as it can affect your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and make it very sluggish over time. A sluggish BMR affects your health in many ways—your weight can plateau, you can suffer from elevated cholesterol levels and can also become prone to gaining fat easily and resisting weight loss.

Improving your BMR requires a concerted and focused effort, especially after weeks of indulgence. Crash dieting to reduce the effects of overeating while on vacation is unhealthy because it is likely to enhance the tendency for yo-yo weight gain as crash dieting lowers your BMR. That’s why you need to think of regrouping after a vacation, focusing on health and the business of healthy living. Here are a few ways to get back on track.

Assess your health status

• Check your weight. Your ideal body weight (IBW) if you are a man is your height in centimetres less 100. So if youre a 170cm-tall male, your IBW is 70kg. If you are a woman, your ideal body weight is your height in centimetres less 105. So if you are 155cm tall, your IBW is 50kg.

• Check your BMI by dividing your weight (in kg) by height (in m sq.).

• Check your body-fat percentage. For males, it should be less than 15% of total body weight; for females, it should be less than 20% of total body weight.

• Next, set a short-term target. If you are overweight, set a weight loss target of 1% of body weight a week for a three-month period. If your cholesterol levels are borderline high, then you can use a combination of diet and exercise to lower them before opting for medication.

• During this period, make a resolve to give up biscuits, pizza, pastas, pastries, junk food and alcohol. This will also help you lose weight and lower triglyceride levels considerably.

• Next, eat healthy meals at three-and-a-half- to 4-hour intervals. Focus on wholegrains such as oat, wholewheat, brown rice, and around 600g a day of green and cruciferous vegetables such as spinach, ladyfinger, French beans, capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage and bottle gourd. Include a fist-sized serving of protein foods in every meal, three-four times a day. Lower the intake of starchy foods such as potato, peas and corn and very sweet fruits such aschikoo (sapodilla), pineapple, raisins and dates. If you need to lose weight, limit your fruit intake to just the first half of the day.

• Join a gym to ensure that you get your workout, especially now that the monsoon will likely make you miss the outdoors. Three days a week of strength training, three days of cardiovascular training, especially if you have high cholesterol levels, 20 minutes of relaxation and deep breathing three times a week and stretching about 10 minutes every day and, perhaps, a game of tennis or badminton on the weekend is good for health.

Nine things successful people do diffrently

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.