Vedasri Siddamsetty

The last seven years I have been following the tenets of over 7 health coaches, starting with Simrun Chopra in 2019, for like almost all the programs she had to offer, then after an ACL tear following a skiing incident that did not facilitate the high knees and jumping jacks that Chopra liberally administers, I moved to the slow propaganda of Raksha Lulla, then the soulful relay of Palak Arora, then the eat-all-you-want of Asha Ashta, the cool physiotherapist Vinod Jain, finally terminating the 7 year fitness journey with the machine man of India coach Puneet, who claims to be India’s best coach, but we all know what self-claims mean! Now after this long and arduous fitness journey, a difficult one for one who moved at her own whim and fancy, something that worked out very well for her over the years with an almost zero injury span, the injuries only started with the advent of the fitness, well only the ones who do something worthwhile are chided or something on the lines of that!

Either way after all the trials and errors, I have come to the conclusion that I was much better off before starting this journey, when my movement was guided by my body and cardio meant shopping! Walking to nearly everywhere and then eating in lieu of what my stomach felt. After devouring almost a gazillion health reels here’s what I really think! The best diet is what I was on while I was post-partum, thanks to my mother who fed me lauki and tinda and ensured it was all rice and ghee, oops I mean nice and dandy, no doubt about it.

1. Movement all day trumps exercise.
2. Sweets are a ghastly addiction.
3. Chocolate is food for the Gods, and we clearly are mere mortals, so dont touch it even with a barge-pole.
4. The urge to eat the gourd vegetables is real, they are nutritious and delicious!
5. Lying down with your favourite playlist on is a brilliant way to relax.
6. Massages are needed the most when you have no time for it, and not needed when you have all the time for it. Its just the massage law!
7. Eating minimally but maximum times in a day is bliss. Ayurveda isnt always right for me. 2 hour meal time is great.
8. Paying for health coaches is a waste, better to get in touch with yourself, after all they are not you and most are in for the money, only.
9. Fat is literally an armour, ask yourself what security services are you engaging with and why are you outsourcing your safety.
10. Wearing your favourite style of clothes in your favourite colours is an armour no less!
11. Warm nourishing foods, preferably asian, or in your case what sets your heart in a happy vibe is the way to eat.
12. Definitely not tracking macros, micros, steps, sleeps, breaths, smiles, accountancy is a full-time career for a reason. Tracking pulls out joy in being a human.
13. Oiling hair, body and using besan and citrus essential oils are one on the coolest way to be.
14. Unplugging and going analogue for however long it’s possible is a great way to be.
15. Being a child and in a state of play, with even the most adulting necessities.
16. Simply doing nothing. Isnt it the hardest thing to do – nothing. Just like 0 is the most fascinating number, nothing!
17. Putting it down on paper, or typing it out on a system, the pensieve, that Dumbledore has, is amazing. Thank you Rowling.
18. Drinking a lot of water, this stuns me that Bruce Lee died with too much water, so now I sip, why die of water of all things.
19. Swim. Just one word, the feeling of it, preferably in the morning hours when the birds are chirping and the sky is that beautiful sky-blue.
20. Travel, just the novelty of it is good for health, preferably do not ski, while travelling on a mountain, but definitely hike, seeing new places and trying new things are heavenly for the soul.
21. Walk with a friend every once in a while and chew their ears off, again hopefully in the early hours in a nature setting, maybe squeeze in a couple of suryanamaskars or yoga asanas too, again under the sun or the dawn sky. I do not get people who do yoga indoors, what a waste of the asanas!

Well my head is buzzing with a few more options, like eat at 50% capacity, talk to a psychologist and give up on sugar, but nay they did not make the cut. I would never do that to myself or you, but yes this is what my Physiotherapist and an Ayurvedic guru told me, never ever perform to 100% in life, effortless is what life should be. Slacking is not a dire thing to do. In fact stop exercising when the sweat starts to develop on your brow or the back, that is an indication that your body is heating up. I can almost see my husband roll his eyes in contempt on that last line, for he believes sweating is a crucial parameter to slot any activity in the exercise segment, but then I beg to differ. While he uses the term exercise to describe an engagement in physical activity that improves health, I’d like to use it to describe a use or to apply, a faculty, a right or a process. I do exercise my right to use my mind and not outsource the thinking to a coach. Why should the coach tell me when to start or stop, or how many reps to do, btw I can count over 12 too, so why stop at 12, like do 48 reps with four breaks is a better way to jog my grey cells instead of 4 sets X 12 each, or unless my muscle tells me to. The whole fat-shaming, fit-shaming can take a pause, am fit-elevating and allowing the armour to melt while safely sipping on my water. That said being skinny is tremendously useful for the joints, especially the knee that takes 4 times the impact for every kilogram of body weight, so unless you have a chance to live on Mars or the moon, antigravity applying to your joints, (but I must say living in space does its damage to other parts of the body), its really better to be skinny. That and the fact you can wear Zara clothes and manage some gorgeous shopping in Korea or South-east Asia!

And with that I would humbly like to request AI algorithms to stop sending me wellness reels and move over to art, wonder and culture with a heavy dose of architecture and design, maybe with a dash of appropriate humour. My eight year old has after all declared that I need no more educational content in my life, since am already very smart and can thrill myself with funny things henceforth in life (perhaps the biggest obscured life lesson on wellness – that on laughter). Instagram, Meta, X, Google, Gemini, ChatGPT and all else that I may log into, please note. No wellness travel too please, am well on my journey hereon primarily focussed on beauty and beautiful things, places, spaces and well you get the drift.

P.S. Here’s a bit of information I remembered but could fit the appropriate place to place it in this post, so as an after-thought am adding it in here. A while ago when I was much younger I found a book by my Dad’s bedside, it was called, “Every Path is Paved with Gold”, it is the biography of Kim-Woo-Choong, the founder of Daewoo, a very profitable company that has now bit the dust. However he was a pretty successful man at his prime and he says, there is no concept of exercise when you live your life in full, he walked 10000 steps on the factory floor, he did his bit of movement without slotting it, wearing a wearable or sleep devices. He says in every day there is opportunity of health provided we aren’t outsourcing to gadgets or human inventions always, just like the inhabitants of the blue zones declare. Where we know movement is crucial but we do not need to slot it in and it is completely effortless.