I love Food! Since childhood I’ve been eating recklessly and was a hyper kid. Energy levels had to be matched with the food intake. Always high on sugary things made me more and more hyper. Playing Sports was my passion and so was eating the hidden Parle G biscuits in my mom’s locker in her bedroom, the mangoes stashed underneath the sofa, the never ending bread, butter and jam.
My mom knew my sweet cravings and how berserk I would go on a particular food, she actually had to lock up that food item or hide it from me. Also being a young energetic boy, I had a huge appetite especially for sweets. My school canteen was my favourite place, I actually used to fool the cafeteria help into giving those extra Gulab jamuns or puris to me. Could go on eating till the lunch bell would ring.
But that’s very normal for a growing boy to eat voraciously, right. As I grew up into a teenager, the appetite became even bigger. Challenges and dares from my friends to eat that Raste ka pav bhaji, anda burji pav, spicy chola bhatura from shamiana restaurant, thelawalas panipuri (atleast 50 at a time was not difficult for me). Could eat and get away most of the times. But one fine day, I started developing not only weight but throat soreness. Started developing tonsillitis issues. So much so that I started falling sick frequently not understanding the main reason for my down days.
Getting into my career mode and being ambitious, added stress to my life and to my health. Working long hours, I couldn’t look after myself well. Every 2 to 3 months my health would go down. Taking time off from work was difficult, but had no choice as most of my leaves were spent in sickness. Always taking antibiotics, eating whatever I felt suited me and was right for my body.
Little did I know that I was feeding toxins to my body. On my down days, I would get up with sore throat and humungous amount of mucus, severe headaches, dripping nose, bad spouts of cough, feeling giddy and feverish. Starting my day with the typical chai and my all time favourite parle G biscuit and then eat a typical sindhi nashta of bread butter with milky and sugary tea and add even more sugar as a topping to my bread and butter.
Atleast 8 to 10 slices a day was the intake. Sometimes I would even eat the sindhi lolo bitto ( Paratha loaded with tons of sugar and ghee). I would never eat that simple moong daal khichdi which is a good healer for sick people. Lived on bread and biscuits the entire time during my sickness.
Every time I tried consulting various doctors and all I got was antibiotics, nebulisers, steroids to control and suppress my problems. Diagnosis was given of a respiratory disorder, bronchial issue, sinus deviation. Newer medications were tried. Eventually I would get better in 10 to 15 days. But this would repeat every 2 to 3 months or if I had eaten out at a restaurant. I did not realise that certain foods were my trigger points.
Eating Chinese food with sauces, chilled beer or anything cold, ice creams or other sugary desserts, this whole combo was a disaster for my health. The very next day there was chaos in my system. What was causing my health to go down? My immunity was also going down by the day. Started working out at the gym. Yes, I was feeling better but still the cycles repeated frequently. I even gave up working out since I thought it wasn’t helping me and that my career was more important than anything else. But could I go on like this with my life was a doubt that I had to clarify.
All these health issues led into major depression and was losing interest in everything. Was this a way of life that I’ was supposed to lead? I couldn’t take it anymore! Ankush was studying Nutrition few years back. She had been observing me and was wanting to help me every time I went down. Trying to soothen me by giving me whatever I felt was right and acceptable to my body to consume. As a matter of a fact, when she was researching into nutrition because of my health condition, she got so intrigued by Nutrition, so much so that she enrolled her self in Nutrition schools to learn more about how Nutrition can help and take care of one’s disorders.
Gradually she started changing my nutritional habits – from a chai biscuit and bread butter, I moved on to the typical Indian kaada (Concoction of ginger, lemon, etc) green tea, clear soups, daals, stir fried vegetable without masalas or sauces, vitamin filled Green smoothies (that I’m highly addicted to like a child addicted to having Milk in the mornings). She put me onto the miraculous whole plant based nutrition where everything I was eating was natural, fibrous and nutritional for my body. It was like real medicine being fed into my body instead of antibiotics. These foods actually heal people that’s why Its called ‘ Food for the Soul’.
So instead of going down for 10 to 15 days, I would only fall sick for 3 to 4 days and get back on my feet without any medications, only through natural healing. But those days are rare now, even though I’ve eaten anything unsuitable for my body, I know how to handle it and take care of it and it doesn’t delve deep anymore into the blackhole like earlier days.
I’ve got my energy back and now its even much more higher than before. Been able to fight the demons of my past. I feel blessed to double my strength with such a wonderful, miraculous plant based nutrition that I’ve been following since few years, thanks to AharShakti guidelines. Believe me or not, I’ve been a sugar baby and Egg lover most of my life and now that’s all left behind me. I actually gave them up for a bigger cause. Because now I know that those were my nemesis to my body.
I do get sweet cravings but I have alternates to those too. I crave for desserts like cookies, cakes, puddings, milkshakes, icecreams and now I have better and healthier alternatives to all of these. I still eat very well but real and natural foods that help fill up better and more nutritional in value than what I was consuming earlier. My fitness levels have improved drastically, I have broken my earlier barriers of physical levels. Doing push up variations and pullups have become easier than before where I was always struggling for more energy and strength to even do one to five reps. Feeling more enthusiastic than ever, I’m improving my focus at work and while working out, Performance levels are higher and sharper.
I’ve been in the best shape of my life in my 40s. Feeling more energetic, healthier, focused, livelier, confident. The power of food – AharShakti – Aharpower has turned around my life for being a better version of myself – “Be better than you used to be” is AharShakti’s tagline, which I strongly believe in. I’ve learnt a lot in my health journey. I believe in my motto – “It’s You against You”. Though body says stop, but the spirit cries Never.