Team-BHP - Why are Indians so unfit?

There are multiple factors for this.

Post independence and over the years when people struggled to make both ends meet, the priority was to stuff the belly with carbohydrates. Our style of cooking plays a major role where carbs are centre of the meal. If you follow the below you can stay healthy.

Make protein the centre of the diet and consume at least 1 gram per body weight. Consume only around 1500 to 200 calories and from good sources ( Eg brown rice, millets etc)
Reduce sugar intake overall as well as sugar on an empty stomach (eg: morning tea/ coffee with sugar) Consume good amounts of water and fiber.

Workout at least 3 days a week ( Cardio + strength training to use the muscles)

Quote:

Originally Posted by V.Narayan (Post 4512790)

Been reading this thread with interest. I have two observations:

1. The discussion seems to have veered off onto what we as individuals do rather than 'why are Indians [or middle & upper economic class Indians] unfit'. I think we are getting a tad preachy.

2. The definition of fit here seems to hover around visible physical fitness aka Salman Khan style or 'I do 30 minutes pumping in the gym' style.

3. The concept of fitness as a function of holistic body health and resistance to disease seems to be getting missed out altogether.

4. Also fitness regimen seems to be focused on the thread only on Western methods of gym, run, weights, etc. What about Yoga? Meditation? Yoga is, at least in my opinion, the most holistic exercise for body rehabilitation, de-toxing, hormone tuning, muscle toning and protecting your joints. And meditation is needed for the mind. The mind and its agitation, as far as I know, is the starting point and the sustaining point of a lot of our bodily ills from eating mindlessly, or working up our tension, aggravation within the family, burning ambition - all starts and lives in the mind but the effect is seen in the body.

Just my observations folks. I might be wrong. Maybe I am just a greying eagle rambling on muttering to himself.

It is very easy to miss the wood for the trees in this debate. Firstly it is established beyond reasonable doubt that weight around the belly is the worst health hazard which can lead to cardiac problems, diabetes and a host of other ailments. Secondly, it is also clear from umpteen research projects that exercise is good and essential for a healthy body. Our bodies evolved for standing and walking rather than sitting. Yet we would find so many Indians desperately searching for seats rather than standing. Keeping weight down needs only one discipline - keeping calorie intake in check.

I am in my mid 20's and always had the same feeling! To make things worse, no matter where I go, be it friends or relatives, they just want to stuff us with unhealthy junk which they consume :Frustrati

Everyone now uses mobile 24*7, moves very little, cares only about instant hormone rush after tasty unhealthy food, almost no effort to improve health too.

Once we reach certain levels of unhealthiness, its very difficult to become fit again, body might not make enough good hormones needed for recovery, poor absorption of vitamins and other micro nutrients will make thing worse.

Worse side effect of being so poorly disciplined is mental health, people don't even seem to know that they have excessive fatigue or poor mood, this reflects everywhere and this why quality of life is actually getting worse in India even though more and more development is happening.

Like majority of the Indians, even I counted myself among-st the majority who pay least attention to their physique (specially after marriage). I was in Netherlands for the majority part of this year and that's where I noticed such a huge difference in the fitness levels of the Dutch people vis-a-vis Indians. For Dutch, cycling is a way of life. I was astonished to see even old people cycling regularly in the city. Even my Dutch colleagues in office used to go to Gym post office, whereas I used to look forward to a nice sleep on the couch eating wafers after coming home.

Luckily the time spent in Netherlands has finally changed my attitude towards fitness. Though we are still far from having a good infrastructure for cycling, etc., I have now adopted some basic changes to my lifestyle -
1. Whenever possible, walk instead of using a 2-wheeler
2. Climb 7 floors at-least once in a day (my office is on 7th floor)
3. Whenever I go to hotel / shopping, I park my car at-least 5-8 min away from the destination, so I automatically walk another 15-20 min.

Some simple, yet effective techniques to take 1 step further in remaining fit :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ikonification (Post 4514984)

I was in Netherlands for the majority part of this year and that's where I noticed such a huge difference in the fitness levels of the Dutch people vis-a-vis Indians. For Dutch, cycling is a way of life. I was astonished to see even old people cycling regularly in the city. Even my Dutch colleagues in office used to go to Gym post office, whereas I used to look forward to a nice sleep on the couch eating wafers after coming home.

Glad to see you enjoyed my home country! Yes, the Dutch are amongst the least obese nations in the world. But still, it is on the rise. For very similar reasons as stated before.

People have a very different way of live, diet etc. And it is also beginning to have an impact on Dutch people.

On the cycling, my mum did her own shopping on her bicycle up to well into her eighties.

A little off topic, if the Mods allow me: here an interesting video that shows how cycling is integrated into everyday Dutch life.

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/

Enjoy Jeroen

Quote:

Originally Posted by freewheelburnin (Post 4513741)

Make protein the center of the diet and consume atleast 1 gram per body weight

In terms of a normal (north)Indian vegetarian diet, what would making "protein the center of diet" translate to?

Interested to know this as i am looking to reduce intake of carbs and increase proteins, but predominantly on a vegetarian north Indian diet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCEite (Post 4655251)

In terms of a normal (north)Indian vegetarian diet, what would making "protein the center of diet" translate to?

Vegetarian proteins are quite few, soy bean is one. The rest of the options are paneer, cheese, milk and yoghurt.
I have been on a protein centric diet and on days when I am vegetarian, paneer is my only resort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by landcruiser123 (Post 4510401)

Here's a video that I make everyone watch:

Nice video and very informative. To summarize the video for those who didn't watch, a right diet (primarily a plant based diet) can go a long way in healing heart disease and preventing it in the first place.

However, i slightly disagree with one point the Dr made in that Ted talk. Its regarding the use of Oil in cooking. I do believe that some amount of oil is absolutely essential for human body. I ofcourse despise refined oils , but oils such as cold pressed coconut oil, sesame oil, mustard oil and even some amount of cow Ghee (clarified butter) can actually help the overall health.

I definitely think all the points made here have an impact. Some like diet, exercise and overall lifestyle, fitness culture being the most important.

But genetics is the important other side of this issue that is something one has little control over.

Simply put, we will never be as strong, athletic, ripped, or with as high levels of endurance as some other races such as the negroids and caucasoids.

I am speaking at the level of the overall population as a whole. Outliers or over-performers will always be there who push through these barriers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by srishiva (Post 4656829)

Heating oil and reheating is supposed to be bad. When I think about melting Ghee so many times, I always think about the heating aspect :)

Having good fats is essential and required for other nutrient absorption. But it doesnt have to be oil since it always forms the added part or in fried food items.

You can heat and reheat ghee innumerable number of times and it will never go bad. That is why ghee is far more healthier as opposed to oil.

Boy, this is such a true statement. Urban Indians (including me) get fit for our marriage and then forget about it. I know because I have seen the same from my umpteen friends and colleagues. I never thought it was a problem till I was in Bangalore and everyone around me (95%) looked like me.
Fast forward to my life in Toronto and I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea with the primary reason being I was way overweight.

Thus began my journey back to fitness. I looked at my scale and it read 94, for a guy who is 5' 8". I was shocked. My ideal weight should not be greater than 70. So this is what I did:

1. Cut unnecessary sugar - Meant limiting my tea to once a day initially and off late tea without sugar, Limit cold drinks to zero sugar, if possible eliminate completely
2. Cut Carbs in general - No more white bread, if I really had a craving I would have multigrain muffins but in general stay away. Rice limited to a small bowl only during lunch.
3. Increase Protein - Boiled white eggs - atleast 4 in the morning & Protein shake atleast once and possibly twice. Grilled Chicken whites for dinner.
4. Increase Veggies - Every meal consisted of some veggies, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.
5. Portion Size - Reduce portion size drastically. Almost half.
6. 45 Mins of Rigorous Physical activity atleast 5 times a week. I do kickboxing, which is crazy.

In last 2 Months I have dropped from 94 to 86. I should have dropped more but a 2 week holiday ruined it :) I am still happy with my progress and I am barely doing anything.

You cannot change your past but can change your future. My biggest worry is that I have 2 very young kids and I want to be able to enjoy my time with them rather than laze around and watch TV.