How to stay positive and how to choose right food and exercise during the Covid times.

Hello all. This is Krutuja Hukeri. A dietician by profession, I believe that Diet is a word that means nourishing your mind and body to be happy and not something that helps you reduce fat. If we nourish our body and also our mind in a proper & disciplined manner coupled with exercise, rest assured that the body will reshape itself.

We all know that this is a very trying time. The things all of us have been hearing recently, have been the least pleasant. Most of you will agree that it is really very hard to stay positive. Hence, we are seeing a lot of people battling depression, anxiety, OCD,etc. It is because we humans are social animals but the lockdown has put serious restrictions on us. Overall, we are facing a very negative time.

For optimum health, we need to keep ourselves involved in one or the other activity. The activities can be singing,listening to music, dancing, exercising, learning something new, reading books, etc.

People who are talented in the fields of singing and dancing; can practice, record and upload their performances. One can listen to soothing music to feel calm and happy. This will make you feel very happy about yourselves. Talk to your family and spend time with them (Especially for people who are stuck alone) when you feel low. That may also make you feel better.

It is very much next to impossible to go to gym. In such a case, One can do exercises at home- both aerobic and strength training. Aerobics includes walking(for 1 hr), brisk walking(30 mins), climbing one stair up and down(100 * 5 sets). As for strength exercises, we can hold a jar full of water for side laterals(20* 3 reps), do pushups on a flat surface or use stairs or sofa to provide inclination(30 * 3 sets), crunches(forward- 30, backward- 30, side- 30 ), lunges(30*3), squats(sumo, outward, inward- 30 each), suryanamaskars(10), etc. Suryanamskar uses the entire body and hence is one of the best exercise to do for overall health. Make sure that you complete at least 35 mins of exercise minimum. You may take breaks depending on your health status and disease. In all, 30-45 min walk with or without breaks is best for people of all ages and various medical conditions. Exercise releases oxytocin and endorphins in the brain which are responsible for the good and happy feeling we get after exercise.

Reading new interesting books will also help you feel good. Choose a genre which is really interesting and does not have negativities such as murders, deaths, crimes, etc. Try to choose a genre that you like as well as is positive.

This lockdown is the most productive time and an opportunity which we will never get again. It is the time to learn as many new things as possible. There are many different apps such as Coursera, Udemy, etc that provide many short term paid or unpaid courses online. One can enroll in the course that interests them and learn something new. Try and learn things that you have never done or never tried to do before it may be cooking, cleaning the house, helping your moms and wives and vice versa, sewing, singing, dancing, etc. If we try and learn as many essential things and interesting things in this lockdown; we will have a 360° knowledge. I have done Graphology, Introduction to Forensic Science and Science of Exercise course on these apps. I am saying all the above things out of personal experience. I have tried and tested all of the above remedies and they have worked wonderfully for me.

One can try cooking, baking, etc. But be sure that you are cooking or baking health foods. Eg:- Instead of making potato chips out of potato; you can make aloo paratha with added vegetables. Choose wisely.

All this will help you feel good in this highly stress inducing time. Feel free to write to me on krutuja.hukeri16@gmail.com for any queries. Hope this helps you all fight the Covid Crisis on a personal level.