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This blog is another opportunity to feel grateful and thank you dear Universe: You continue to bless me with recovery and overall health.
Initially, it didn’t make any sense when my Ayurvedic Doctor advised eating by the clock, he said ‘’let there be light’’ and my understanding of it was to cut down on food and make it lighter. Whereas he meant to introduce the healthy habit of eating with the Sun to put back my compromised digestive system in place. Post-diagnosis with a rare disease, Isaacs’ Syndrome (a neuromuscular disorder), and subsequently with chronic conditions like Lyme disease, Glaucoma, and Membranous Glomerulonephritis, I developed complications related to my alimentary canal which resulted in symptoms like nutritional deficiencies, diarrhea, indigestion, pain, and inflammation.
Living a bachelor’s life in a metropolis was like having late dinners, no compulsion of having healthy food, and following happy hours. There were days when it was hard to make time to eat lunch and grabbing a food truck burger on the way back home at night, was normal. My body didn’t have much to complain about in the younger days of life however it started to hit me hard during its late thirties and around the same time I developed many complicated symptoms. The same routine, which was normal once, disrupted my life.
I visited an Ayurvedic Doctor to get a practical approach to why my body gave out such weird indications. He took me to history and touched base on how our Ancestors followed a systematic cycle towards their eating patterns, did physical activities, depended least on medicines, and followed a healthy lifestyle and further added on how our Metabolic cycle changes throughout the day depending upon many factors. In the morning hours, Melatonin (a hormone produced by the pineal glands in the brain that prepares the body for sleep. It is even called the “hormone of sleep) decreases, and insulin (a hormone that controls blood sugar and energy absorption in the body) sensitivity increases making one feel more active and energized whereas during the evenings the opposite happens to prepare our body to calm down, rest, and put in a cell repair zone.
The world of eating disorders was so mysterious and foreign that I tried gathering information from various resources. After researching the subject deeper, I found an endless stream of diet patterns with different expert opinions, various fads, and self-discovered verbiage on what works best. The idea was simple: to pitch health instead, I came across many confusing designs trying to prove their points, unique and sounding like each one had preconceived solutions to my problems, without even having a clue about me, and as anticipated it was easy for a layman like me to get lost. I am not criticizing any of these as some of my family members have close proximities with it however, I was left with the following set of questions:
- Is my body unique? If yes, does it deserve a custom-made approach?
- Is life a way to enjoy food or get glued to a specific pattern of eating and follow for life?
- Will sticking to a specific pattern of eating for the long term have repercussions?
- Are there simpler ways to eat, be relaxed, and stay healthy at the same time?
Though the eating disorder and the associated symptoms had impacted every facet of my life and were medically not easy to understand given the number of complexities, I decided to follow none of the recommendations or videos and adapt a way that suited me best. It was quite difficult to convince people around me as I noticed that we often carry many conscious and unconscious biases, misconceptions, and stigmas due to our set cultural parameters however after a couple of weeks I realized experientially that there is no one-size-fit-to-all and that there is no right or wrong if it works. Having attended and worked through many of these challenges, there was a list of simple steps that supported me in living better: –
- The first principle: – listening to hunger and a gentler approach towards our stomach.
- I stopped over-stuffing even if it was the most preferred freshly baked cookie filled with melted Choco chips.
- When to eat became equally important to What I ate.
- I started eating nicely during daylight, limited my intake as the sun went down, and strictly followed not eating too close to bedtime.
- Had warm food and said no to Ice cold foods and Beverages.
- Preferred as much fresh and not stale food.
- Added certain kitchen spices to stimulate digestion.
- It was a misconception that eating disorders couldn’t take over if my clinical reports were fine.
- I remembered: it was never too late to treat myself.
Initially, when I started the idea was to optimize my metabolism process naturally and get medical freedom however it was surprising to learn that not eating right (when and what) could have serious impacts that as we age and stick to the wrong patterns for long. I am glad, things changed, and I noticed a drastic transformation in: – improved digestion, and energy levels, weight management, and restoring my digestive strength. This exercise left important lessons and reiterated that healthy eating is a way of life, and one should not blindly follow what our favourite influencer says.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed above in this article are the author’s own and do not represent any kind of medical advice.
