Proof of Pregnancy

Klum, 1 months post her baby

A month after Heidi Klum had a baby, she walked the ramp for victoria secret's skimpies, strutting her stuff and making us 'normal' women go green, absolutely green with envy. Jealous is more like it actually. Me thinks she may be the only freak of nature, and what a stunning freak at that, to have zero stretch marks post the 9 months of baby making in her belly. 

My mumma used to say proudly, looking at her stretch marks, this is my proof of pregnancy. Sweet. But i wonder why i need to prove anything at all? Isn't labour enough? Ok. Let's not stretch ourselves too much today. Speaking of stretching, so do you have your proof of pregnancy? More proof for more than one pregnancy? 

I had a client skype with me from South Africa, wondering if Indian women suffered the eyesore of stretch marks due to pregnancy. Do we? I have not yet made a baby, so i apologize for not being able to give you first hand information, but what i can tell you is this-Your skin is made up of two important-for-youth substances. Collagen & Elastin. Think of Collagen as jelly. If you can imagine jelly, that is what Collagen is in your skin. It keeps it all together. Foods rich in protein help Collagen production and maintain good quality Collagen in the skin, which in turn keeps your skin young. Elastin on the other hand is like the elastic in your hair band. It can stretch and become as big as you want and in time either loose its original shape altogether, or in the case of human beings, shrink back really close to its original form. Elastin is also dependent on protein and some other nutrients to maintain good health in your skin. Good health of Collagen & Elastin will determine how youthful your skin looks, devoid of marks and blimps. 

Here are some reasons why you end up having stretch marks:

1. Lack of moisture in the body

2. Lack of EFAs or essential fatty acids like Omega 3-6-9 and Selenium

3. Unable to maintain a steady weight

4. Erratic dieting before conception 

5. Sun tanning

6. Constantly wearing very tight clothes

7. SO SO IMPORTANT- Not enough protein in your diet

8. Insufficient Vitamin E in the diet

9. Poor flushing of toxins from your body

10. Not having a rich husband. Read on, you'll see why.

So here are some of the reasons why you are probably less prone to have a stomach like Heidi Klum. I read somewhere, the source slips my mind, that Heidi Klum ate organic Norwegian Salmon very regularly through her pregnancy. This is great! Because Salmon is most definitely anti stretch mark food.

If you, like me, don't have the luxury to eat organic Norwegian Salmon, and prefer chomping on grass, make sure you eat a variety of vegetarian foods to get maximum nutrients in your diet. Combine nuts, grains, seeds, vegetables, fruits and roots of all colors, shapes and sizes. Remember, Vegetarian=Variety, else you will always be battling some deficiency or the other. The most important one, a massive deficiency to have a flawless belly post your bump. 

Mid Night Express

The poor husband. Yes, a rare moment of sympathy towards the opponent. I feel he must have to deal with much ever since we combined our worlds. For one, the endless overdose of what to eat and what not to eat. How to eat it. When to eat it and what the thousand possible reasons for the red blimp on the back of his ear may be. And this is just one aspect.
On an another note, since i've discovered this new found connection between the mind, body and food, this definitely is the latest topic of discussion whether or not he likes it. He likes it. Most of the times.
So here's something that struck my synapses yesterday. And please people, please do share your thoughts and back me up or boot me down on this one.
I felt the need to express everything that i had been reading and learning in the past couple of days about being a staunch vegetarian and felt the need to express it all in the middle of the night. When the husband seemed unenthusiastic about listening attentively, i snapped at him for being too selfish. Of course, once the coffee was in my hand the next morning, it was only too obvious who the selfish one really was.
Do you get irritable often? Do you snap often? Do you feel the urge to express rage? Observe. See if this is something that happens to you and keep a track of how often it happens. We've not had the sun for almost 10 days where i live. It has been cold, wet and grey for a long time now. I've found my self terribly irritable and sad. Not the usual foolishly optimistic and happy self that i am. The one horrible thing lack of sunshine does to the body is lowers levels of Vitamin D. And what could this possibly do? Iv'e been researching and apparently there is a direct link between low levels of Vitamin D and unstable emotions.
See, when your Vitamin D drops, it effects calcium and magnesium levels in body as well. A combination of these 3 dropping, effects neurological health, in that, it is more conducive to depression, anxiety, irritability and anger. Everything but a feeling of peace and contentment. Some people also start to breathe poorly because of the heightened levels of suppressed anxiety.
What is the cure? Nothing like a few minutes of the early morning sunshine. The first few rays of the sun that say hello hello. It is not only your daily quota for vitamin D, but also a great cure for skin, hair, bone and eye problems.
If sunny boy's on vacation and if you're vegetarian, then fortified juices and cereals seem to be it, but if you eat flesh, then you can get it from a number of meats. A whole egg to start with.
So the next time you feel that a drama queen has possessed your otherwise cool and calm persona, check your sunshine vitamin. And spare the husband. 

Of brittle bones and stilettos on stones

Oh dear Calcium! How is it that you avoid us vegetarians? Why would you do that to us?
We constantly swallow gallons and gallons of the white milky stuff believing that we will get our daily doze of you, but you seem to chase us despite that, why?
Ok no more silly talk with Calcium. Let's dive right into it. Calcium is a cause for concern for many vegetarians despite their daily doze of yogurt, cottage cheese and 'doodh-wali-chai.'
So where are we going wrong? For starters, in the study of Ms Diya Dembla, dairy, the whole range, does more damage in your system than good. You may think your dairy intake is helping you with your quota of calcium, but in reality, it is casing your digestive system to slow down, hampering the balanced secretion of hormones and yes, may even aggravate those pimples.
So what can we do if we drop the milk? Well, here are a bunch of very simple vegetarian sources of calcium which if included on a daily basis in your diet, that all nighter high-heel party won't kill your toes/knees the next day. Will take way more than that.

1. White Sesame Seeds:- Add them to your salad, stir fry with them, munch them raw. Excellent source of calcium.

2. Almonds: Oh there's so much you can do with almonds.

3. Raw Spinach: See this one's not the same as cooked spinach. The calci in cooked is almost destroyed. So you want to make sure that you get some amount of raw spinach through a juice or salad or garnish.

4. Bok Choy:- GO ahead, unveil the chinese chef in you and add this to your stir fry's.

5. ALL green leafy vegetables: Have you been avoiding fresh green fenugreek? Well now's your chance to kiss and make up. Pretty much all leafy greens have quite the doze of calcium and if included in your meals everyday, your heels won't hurt.

So what will you be including in your meal today my dear vegetarian?

Vitamin L

There's something magical about being in love. The flutter in your eyes, the gorgeous glowing skin, the effervescent smile and that almost foolishly happy for absolutely no reason disposition. LOVE. It can do that to the most rational, logical and practical of us all. If you think being goofy in love with a smile for no reason is unbecoming, i've got news for you bebe. 

When we are in love or feel loved the body releases a lot of feel-good hormones. One of them, among many is Oxytocin. Did you know that oxytocin is also one of the hormones that impacts the contraction and expansion of the womb and how milk ducts get stimulated while feeding? It also plays a role in not developing food allergies.

Have i lost my male readers? Wait. I have news for you too. Apparently when men and women go out for a romantic date or a mushy movie, levels of progesterone are boosted by almost 10% and this enhances the men's desire to get intimate. When Harry Met Sally tonight?

The love between man and woman is not the only kind that is nourishing for us. Research suggests that fathers who have a good bond with their children have lower levels of cortisol which invariably shoots up during the week while they are at work. Oh cortisol! You do not want elevated levels of cortisol in your body because this one is a trouble maker.

So grab a bite together over a moonlit sky. Hug your babies nice and tight. Make passionate love to your beau. Walk hand in hand singing and laughing over meaningful conversation. You'll soon realize, your medical bills are disappearing and the way you look and feel will be everyone's envy. LOVE.

Downfall 007

Are you the best at feeling low, depressed and constantly unhappy?
Do you have the unique gift of turning a perfectly beautiful day into a sob story?
Do you feel like the world is conspiring against you?
And most importantly, are you able to have healthy relationships without feeling like somethings wrong with the other person?
I've got news for you my darling friend. Other than the fact that you probably need help in the mental department too, but for starters check your levels of:-
1. CALCIUM
2. B VITAMINS
3. D VITAMINS
4. PROTEIN
It is a proven fact that low levels of the aforementioned have an immediate effect on your mental health. Deficiency in some nutrients are conducive to feeling mentally unfit and in particular low, depressed and victimized.
It is not abnormal to feel these emotions, but if you've been feeling like that on more than one occasion and it persists across a year, yes, start with checking your levels of 1, 2, 3, 4.
And hey, your body is not the world wide web where everything can happen at the click of an instant. If you've discovered that you are deficient in any of the above, give yourself at least, three months, to feel healthy and fine before you decide, it is the mental department that needs help.
Stay Happy!

Size Zero. RIP.

Size Zero. RIP.

Like tea or coffee, sugar or sugar free, image gurus have battled with the size zero conundrum for years. The silence was broken when a very bootiful Cindy Crawford appeared on a magazine cover flaunting her bump. That was breaking all fashion principles. How can someone who was known for her hourglass figure expose her ‘flaws,’ so publicly?

That edition was a runaway success. Something the publishing team at W magazine took their chances with and were rewarded with an all-copies-sold-out prize. That was the new wave of fashion imaging. It reached out to the everyday woman. Someone who had little time for herself and led a very normal life with a little bit of a bulge on the belly and flab on the arms. It gave the everyday woman hope. Hope that one day she can be accepted as she is. Today, albeit thin is still in on the ramp and fashion brands, thin is also relative. More brands want nicer bodies over anorexic ones. Of course, if you’re genetically blessed with the perfect stats you are welcomed with open arms, but that's becoming rare.

At the more recent, American’s Top Model fashion reality show, Tyra Banks and the rest of the judges actually let go of three prospective fashion super stars because they thought they would project the wrong body image to the young and restless. Are we truly changing the way fashion imaging is projecting bodies or is it just a phase? Do you like to see slightly healthier curves on the cover of a fashion magazine or do you still prefer the non-realistic fantasy of a mannequin body on the cover?

I wish I had access to the Neilson’s research of sales for size zeros across the globe. With so much awareness and focus on better health and fitter bodies rather than skinny ones, I bet the size zero phenomenon is near extinction.

If you’ve got the curves and look attractive, watch out, you could be picked for the next fashion campaign. Enjoy your healthy body and stop obsessing about being skinny because real is in, size zero is out. 

The marriage of emotions & skin health.

My skin today, still white, but has more natural color. 

In freshman year, I was a Resident Assistant (R.A) in my dorm. I must confess, i had quite the fan club of young boys and older pre med R.As. It was quite flattering and it felt good too. You could see it in my skin. It reflected confidence. Albeit, i was a scholarship student and always stressed about my grades. It was constant. My skin at the time was clean and clear, but lacked a natural color. It was just pale white. 
On one of our training programs i met Angela. (name changed) She entered the room and her presence commanded attention. She had something about her that gravitated all the men for sure, but women as well. You just wanted to befriend her. She had this magnetic personality. This very attractive aura.  However, i absolutely must confess, she was NOT conventionally good-looking. She was coco colored, had frizzy shoulder length hair, which she tied into a neat pony tail most of the times and was on the verge of getting plump. And yet, she always had people who wanted to befriend her. Her fan club was way bigger than mine :)

Angela had gorgeous skin. It was radiant. It had color. When she laughed, blood gushed through the apples of her cheeks. Angela reflected a very content, happy and fulfilling soul. 

My point? Your skin truly reflects what emotions you carry through your body. 
99%, and that's a very high percentile, of my clients with severe acne or major skin disorders are struggling with something big in their lives. They've not been able to come to terms with. Or accept it. Or are angry about it. NINETY-NINE PERCENT. And that's a huge percentage. 
Look at your skin. It is telling you a story about your emotions. Observe your skin on good days and bad. It will tell you a lot about how you're feeling. So truly, your skin is a reflection of what you're carrying within you. I hope it is nothing but positivity. 
Om Shanti Shanti! 

Touch the God within

We're so many things to so many people. 
Sometimes, not the person who we truly are. Do you really know yourself? Have you taken some time everyday to sit with your thoughts? Listen to your mind & body in its most mundane and basic nature? Not overpowered by greed, ambition, lust or desire? 
If you asked me today, Diya, i'm, gonna give you 5 million dollars- I want you to get your MBA, work for a MNC and become a corporate diva. Other than the fact that i am mathematically challenged and hence petrified of a MBA, i would say no. I'll just take the money and do my own thing. ;) 
I know myself. I know what makes me happy and it doesn't make a difference to my life if the woman next to me in a fancy job and expensive bag thinks less of me. I am so happy. I do what i love doing and live in sync with what truly brings me happiness. 
It all started with the practice of yoga in 2007. It helped me find the god within. My inner temple.
What do you do everyday to worship yourself? Heal yourself? Nourish your mind and your thoughts?

Soak it. Sprout it. Sexy!

Remember how you always saw your mum or grandma or if you've never been a kitchen ninja then your helper soak all your lentils before cooking them?
In our household, most lentils are soaked a night before.I wondered, wah, what planning! Well, there was more to it that just planning. It was actually healthy!
What if i just wanted to pressure cook it a little more rather than soak it? 
For one, it tastes way better if they are soaked overnight and two, soaking actually initiates a chemical reaction in them. This chemical reaction apparently improves the quality of antioxidants, phytoestrogens, vitamins and minerals found in lentils/pulses. One step further is sprouting them. Oh sprouting! Sprouting is like that special superfood process that truly brings out the best in these little dots. Sprouting definitely enhances the iron content, is better digested and broken down in the body and sprouting, researchers say, is the one method that helps the body fight cancers. Especially breast & prostrate. 
See here's the way i see it. If you can soak & sprout it and consume it, you'll get a better dose of healthy stuff. More healthy stuff=less junky stuff. Less junky stuff= a sexier you. 
That wasn't such a complicated formula was it? 

Look at my sexy green mung sprouts! 

Things That Make You Go Ummmmm

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO UMMMMMMM

Life gets hectic. Life gets tough. Life gets challenging and life definitely gets rough. 
It's so important, good or bad, right or wrong to do the things that make you feel warm and fuzzy in your belly. There are a few things no matter where you are in the world and how bad it gets, always brings a smile to your face.
For me personally, it's lolling with the husband and a book in bed all day and a jar of nutella within reach.
For a close friend it is a brazilian blowout. For my mum it used to be a good aroma oil massage.
I know someone who loves going for a drive in the middle of the night- That really brings back the love for him.
What is your Ummm? Spending moolah on a bag? PS11? Having your hair oiled by your tender loving mumma's hands? Even at 40 years of age?
Well, research shows doing certain things that you love actually decreases the level of cortisol (stress hormone) in the body and improves the percentage of oxytocin (love hormone).
Now who doesn't want to look and feel like they're in love ha? Lancome's been trying to trap that formula in a bottle for years- That look that you have when you're totally happy and loved. No shade of MAC compares to that natural blush.
And it is true, those that feel loved age much slower than those who feel otherwise.
So go ahead, get a little bit of that thing that makes you go Ummmmm. 
Chapter 3, Page 71....coming honey!

THE GOODNESS OF SPINACH- REDEFINED

I grew up in a quintessentially middle class household. 

Being very modern in her upbringing, my mother tried very hard to learn, experiment and teach us the roots of our culture, lest we grow up without a social identity. 

Sindhianism. The kind that know bits and pieces of being Sindhi without having to practice teejri, worship jhulelal or tork tooh dadhee in Sindhee.
The one thing Sindhianism helped our household with was the lavish use of spinach in the traditional Sindhi dishes- Sai Bhaji, Sayel Palak, Daal Palak, Doodi Palak etc.
Spinach was very affordable, gave a beautiful emerald color to your dish and excellent nutritively or as mumma said- "It's good for your insides."
Except, there was one problem. The spinach was cooked and cooked and cooked to an extent it could have been mistaken for grass and no one would be able to tell the difference.
Today, after having studied nutrition, i can tell you one or two very important things about spinach.
Here goes:
1. Spinach is best had in the form of salad or juiced to optimize nutrient absorption.
2. Once juiced, it must be consumed almost immediately.
3. Spinach accompanied with vitamin c- lemon juice, tomatoes, orange juice etc, the iron in spinach is better absorbed.
4. Menstruating women should have a glass of spinach juice every day while in cycle.
5. You absolutely must wash spinach well, else you'll ingest a lot of mud.
6. Spinach when cooked beyond 30 SECONDS, looses 85% of its nutrient value.
7. If your child or anyone has suffered a bout of jaundice, give them spinach juice everyday.
8. Spinach has a very poor shelf life. Hence, you must consume it as soon as fresh.

Go ahead, try your (pa) luck! 

xxx- Wellness Woman!