In the depths of love, pain takes its toll, Like shards of glass that pierce my soul. With every beat of my heart, it aches, Embracing sorrows, my spirit breaks.
Love is a melody, sweet and serene, But pain lurks beneath, unseen. An ethereal dance of joy and despair, Leaving my heart tangled in its snare.
Your love ignited a fire deep within, Yet my heart also bears the pain, akin. For every moment of pure bliss, A bittersweet ache, I cannot dismiss.
Love, a tapestry woven with threads, Pain, a shadow that relentlessly spreads. Bound together, they intertwine, A paradoxical symphony, both divine.
Through love’s pain, I find strength anew, For it deepens my love, pure and true. In the darkest nights, I learn to endure, Knowing love’s pain is but love’s allure.
So, I embrace love’s exquisite agony, For it molds me into what I’m meant to be. In the tapestry of love and pain, I find, A love so profound, it’s one of a kind.
In love’s embrace, a delicate dance had begun, Two souls entwined, beneath the morning sun. But fate, capricious, weaves its tangled thread, And soon the tender words are left unsaid.
Passion’s fire, once ablaze, now turned to ash, As whispered promises fade into the past. Heartbreak’s bitter sting, a cruel refrain, Echoes of love lost, lingering in pain.
Yet in the darkness, hope begins to bloom, A seed of resilience amidst the gloom. For from the ruins, new strength can arise, And healing whispers echo through tear-stained skies.
Though love may falter, and hearts may break, It’s in the shattered pieces, beauty wakes. For in the depths of sorrow’s endless sea, Love’s true essence finds its way to be free.
So let the tears fall like gentle rain, Washing away the echoes of the pain. For in the cycle of love’s ebb and flow, We find the courage to let our hearts grow.
Last week, my friend forwarded a facebook post in our whatsapp group saying that it was one of the best posts she had read in a while. I was curious, so I read it and realized that it was a response that a woman gave to an advertisement outside a gym somewhere. The advert read, ‘This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?’
This is her response :
Initially it may seem like a fitting response to a silly and misleading piece of advertisement, but logically it isn’t. It is a smartly articulated emotional retaliation and come to think of it, is misleading too. I will explain how.
But, first things first, a disclaimer: I have nothing against fat people. I don’t mock or ridicule anyone based on their body shape but since I am a health and fitness enthusiast, I advocate health and fitness and if at all, it’s only concern that I feel.
Now let me elaborate the ‘concern’ part –
Coming back to why the lady’s response is misleading – She gives the impression that we must be okay and even proud of the excess fat in our bodies. It’s a debatable topic this one and I disagree. This post will tell you why. [Please read on and don’t give up on me, I can guarantee some really helpful information].
Whales are supposed to look and be the way they are! There are no slim whales unless they are acutely malnourished. Humans on the other hand are humans and we are supposed to store fat only as reserves for whenever there is food deprivation. The reality is that the urban human or people like us are never deprived of food. So because the body knows only how to store fat or burn it, the latter doesn’t happen as long as we are replenishing it with carbs all the time(the body uses carbs for energy and fat keeps getting stored).
Now there is a magic hormone called Insulin that stores fat and helps move glucose into cells. Hormones work only in spurts(when there is a need) and not all the time; so the minute we eat carbs which turns into glucose in the body, insulin is stimulated and released in the bloodstream. Therefore, and it’s only logical that when we stop eating refined sugars and carbs, insulin doesn’t get stimulated and the fat in our body burns.
So, if we understand and control insulin, we can then control whether we store or burn fat and whether we gain or lose weight. The problem is that many of us are in a state of near constant insulin production (Hyperinsulinemia). How do you suppose this happens? You are right! We eat carbs all day which in turn leads to insulin becoming a constant instead of getting stimulated in episodes.
When we stimulate insulin production by eating carbs all day long, we are putting immense stress on our body’s ability to deal with the hormone and as a defense/repair mechanism which our bodies are inherently designed to do, it starts to correct the problem by becoming insulin-resistent. By this time we know that insulin signals our cells to open up to sugar(glucose) and convert it into energy. With insulin resistance, the cells don’t react, and don’t open up, resulting in excessive sugar in the blood. Over time, the pancreas keeps producing more and more insulin in its attempt to regulate the blood sugar, until it wears out and can’t produce large amounts of insulin anymore. As a result, blood sugar levels increase to the point of being in the diabetic range and this is the primary reason and what causes type 2 diabetes.
Now the carbohydrate supply doesn’t stop so the body can only keep storing fat and the fat cells start getting bigger and bigger, the person fatter and fatter. Since the cells are becoming insulin resistant, there is glucose everywhere and the cycle continues. Hyperinsulinemia also causes the body to crave for sugar. When glucose dips, the body will start sending signals like fatigue, craving for carbs, dizziness etc. The body is so used to burning glucose due to the constant supply of carbs that it cannot switch over to burning fat efficiently. This state is what causes people who are trying to lose weight give up the idea as they feel hungry more often and eat food at regular intervals and in turn, continuously fuel the insulin-carbs-glucose cycle.
So, in order to lose weight, we need to become efficient fat burners and this happens only when we restrict carbs and sugar intake aided by intermittent fasting*. If you’ve wondered why you are working out regularly but still not LOSING WEIGHT… exercise alone plays a very small role in weight loss, the majority is the food that we eat. However, exercise and physical activity are very important for our overall well being, to aid our bodily functions and to keep our muscles moving because if we don’t move them, they stop moving.
– *What is intermittent fasting? ‘Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that alternates between fasting and time-bound eating periods.’ There are several types of intermittent fasting patterns of which the 16:8 intermittent fasting is the most common. It is 16 hours of fasting followed by an eight-hour eating period.
–What does intermittent fasting actually do? Restricting food(calories) intake for extended periods forces the body to break down stored body fat to generate energy (when the body uses the fat reserves for energy due to carbs deprivation, it is said to undergo ketosis). ‘This promotes weight loss, enhances metabolic health and supports balanced hormone levels.’ I try to do the 16:8 intermittent fasting on most days but it ends up becoming 15:9. Initially, I used to get hunger pangs but once I got used to it, I didn’t.
At the end of the day, the takeaway is that ‘we were never meant to be fat.’ Well, it is wonderful to be confident about the way we look and not be stressed about achieving the perfect figure or size zero (if there is anything like that!). But, our confidence shouldn’t cost us our well-being, as excess body fat is often an easy gateway to lifestyle diseases and other complications. We must strive to be healthy and take care of ourselves no matter what. Having said that, ‘most people are overweight due to an imbalance of hormones,’ coupled with bad advice from family members, friends, sometimes doctors and nutritionists too and the media.
The good news – our body posseses a wonderful mechanism to aid fat burning. However, the first step is to understand basic human physiology. My intention to write this post was to help you do that; along with a small hint on how to lose weight😉… after all, and as rightly said by someone, ‘Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.’
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On a lighter note, I enjoy the ocassional chocolate… ice cream with my kids, a yummy meal, samosas, pani puri with friends and many other things. But to be able to enjoy these simple pleasures of life wholeheartedly and for long, I strive to persistently look after myself.
Now why am I sharing the recipe for an alcohololic beverage in my blog?
Apart from the fact that it tastes great and is one of my favourite classic cocktails; it is quite popular and sought after among my friends and among my family and my husband’s family members/relatives who’ve had the one made by either him or me. And also, they always ask, ‘How do you make it?’
So I thought, why not share the recipe this way.
Traditionally, hot toddy is made with whiskey but we prefer using brandy. It’s great when you are feeling cold or have a sore throat, cough and cold and ofcourse as a cocktail for any party or get-together.
Let’s start making it:
Ingredients: – Boiling hot water: 330ml – Brandy: 60ml(1peg) – Honey: 4 tsp/to taste – Lemon juice: 1 medium size lemon/to taste – Tea masala(magic ingredient): 3/4th tsp – Star anise: 1 – Cinnamon stick : 1 inch
Method: – Boil water – Put a little cold water in the glass in which you are serving the drink and microwave it for 30 secs. This is to make the glass hot so that the drink remains hot for longer. You may skip this step. – After the glass is heated and while the water is boiling, put all the ingredients except lemon juice into the glass. – Add the boiling hot water, add lemon juice, stir, taste and adjust the honey and lemon juice. It should be tangy with a hint of sweetness. – Voila! Your glass of ‘Hot Toddy’ is ready to be sipped!
Tastes best when it is HOT!
I re-heat and have it sometimes as I like to savour every sip and when I do that it tends to get cold.
Our version doesn’t taste anything like the ones available outside. It is way better in every aspect – taste, texture, quality and quantity. That is why I don’t like having hot toddy anywhere else… it is bad! Also, my husband has mastered it and no one makes it better than him.😊
Teetotallers can skip the alcohol and still have it… I call it the ‘kaadha’ version.🤭
Preparation and pic courtesy: Husband🙂
Well, whether you have it loaded or virgin… enjoy it… and cheers!
‘If u look inside your heart, You don’t have to be afraid, Of what you are, There’s an answer...‘ – Mariah Carey(Hero)
Indeed there is! A hero inside every one of us. We either fail to acknowledge its presence or we get influenced and intimidated by our environment and various other things to even take a peek in and find it.
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This is a story, and this is mine. But the funny thing is, I don’t have a story to tell. I have had the most ordinary life anyone could imagine, with not many drastic ups and downs. I say drastic because like everyone else I have faced several unfortunate situations, be it the death of a parent(dad) at a fairly early age, abuse in a relationship, also at a fairly early age, failure, heartbreak, betrayal, worthlessness, acute financial crises, unemployment and so on. But everyone goes through all this and my circumstances weren’t any different. What was different was that I didn’t allow these situations to change me. Also, I was resilient enough to overcome all adversities without damaging myself. That is why I say, my life has been nothing but normal.
I was the last of five siblings, born into a big joint family of ten. Actually, I have a poem written on my childhood and family. Here it is if you’d like to read it… My poem. I had a modest upbringing in a small hill-town. I was a simple girl and so was everything else around.
After college, I lived my life on cross-roads; I went wherever my heart took me, and sometimes the need for a job took me to places. In the eleven years of my career, if I can call it that, I became a jack of all trades. I had stints in an NGO, call centres, a tour operators’ association; I was a teacher too for two years and in the last leg of those eleven years, I was a trainer in an MNC. I loved being one! Being in the training room and delivering whatever I had to and realizing that I was making a difference in my trainees’ lives in some way, gave me a high. I really really loved that! But, I hated the other aspects of my job – like the corporate politics that came with it, like having to keep my mouth shut and then being in deep shit if I opened it, like the bell curve rating system that I haven’t understood till now, like tolerating the nuances of my micro-managing, ‘I need to save my ass no matter what and be in the good books of the leadership’ bosses. Oh God! Please don’t make me go back to that world again, I seriously hated it, and that’s why when my elder daughter was two years old, I decided to quit!
So I quit, to stay at home and become a full-time mommy. I quit when our financial situation was quite bad, but we sailed through somehow and I continued to stay at home.
I was content!
I still am, and that by far is my greatest vice and virtue. I am content and I am also too laidback.
Being a mother to two wonderful girls and managing the house kept me busy for several years and since I had decided that I would dedicate myself to my childrens’ care until my younger daughter could go to play on her own, I mostly stayed home. But, as soon as she was able to tag along with her sister, I emerged like a dormant volcano.
Now, here’s the twist. A lot of us become ‘extinct’ at this stage in our lives. We kind of give in to the dull, sluggish monotony and do not shift the spotlight from our kids back to ourselves. I am thankful that I chose not to do that. I made a conscious decision to have a life outside my home.
My time to change course and focus on my passions came only in the second innings of my life… after I turned forty! I refused to get caught in the humdrum at that age. On the contrary, the opposite happened! Doing the many things that I had never done before gave me the much needed kickstart to renew my journey.
So for all the women out there who have hit mid-life and who feel hopeless and think that their lives are over, read on and think again.
I ran and completed my first Pinkathon 5K at forty. I joined my first kitty party group at forty. I became a core member of our residential society’s charity group at forty. I made several new friends at forty some of whom are now my friends for life. I started partying late nights at forty. I danced on stage after ages at forty. I shed my inhibitions and started to sing(recreational) at forty. I, along with my bestie, participated in and won a cooking competition at forty. I enrolled into a driving school after forty. I smoked my first joint after forty😛🤫. I joined a fitness class and became a health and fitness enthusiast after forty. I donned a bikini(for the first time) and posed for pictures like a model after forty. I wore braces after forty (there were so many people who’d ask me, “How come at this age?”). I started blogging after forty. I fearlessly did bungee jumping after forty. To fulfill a ‘once in a lifetime’ wish, I did bangs(hair) and surprised the whole world with my new look after forty. Heck! I even wore my first red lipstick after forty!
Unbelievable? Believe it! And as clichéd as it may sound, ‘Life does begin at 40!’… albeit, only if you let it!
Then again, and it should be true for everybody, there’s still…
‘Miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.’ – Robert Frost
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