Fun Fact: Salt and sodium are often used interchangeably but they’re not the same. Table salt (NaCl) comprises 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride!

Why is Too Much Salt Bad for You?

Too much salt in your body pulls water into your bloodstream, thereby increasing the total volume of blood flowing through it. This causes a spike in blood pressure. High blood pressure may injure or damage vessel walls and speed up the build-up of plaque which in turn blocks blood flow. It is also a major risk factor for heart disease. The extra water may also lead to bloating or weight gain.

Sources of Dietary Salt

Over 70 percent of the sodium we consume comes from processed, pre-packaged and restaurant food. In a standard diet, only 11 -15 percent of the total salt is added to food while cooking or eating.

Foods which contribute the most amount of sodium to our diets include:

• Bread
• Pizza
• Cold cuts, bacon and processed or frozen meats contain more sodium than fresh meat.
• Cheese
• Soups
• Fast foods
• Prepared dinners or meals.
• Condiments and sauces such as soy sauce, salad dressings, sauces, dips, ketchup, mustard.

To put things into perspective, let’s take soy sauce as an example. One tablespoon or 15 ml of soy sauce contains about 1000 mg of sodium. This is 2 times the basic minimum requirement per day. If we consider a can of chicken noodle soup labelled as having 25 percent less sodium content, the amount of sodium in one cup is still as high as 524 mg. Similarly, most commercially prepared food items are processed with high amounts of sodium which is way more than what your body requires. These types of processed foods usually taste good and leave us wanting more.Just imagine how much excess salt you have been consuming without even realising it!

Sometimes it is not possible to judge the sodium levels in packaged foods just by tasting it.Reading the nutrition labels on food items can help you identify and monitor how much sodium per portion you are consuming. It is generally recommended that you avoid products containing more than 200 mg of sodium per serving.

How Much Salt Should You Consume?

Your body doesn’t require more than 500 mg of sodium a day. To make it clearer, that’s less than 1/4^th of a teaspoon. The American Heart Association recommends a maximum of 2,300 mg per day and an ideal limit of 1500 mg per day for most healthy adults. Excessive sodium consumption (>5000 mg per day) has been shown to produce a significant increase in blood pressure and has been linked with the onset of hypertension and its cardiovascular complications. 

Consumption of less sodium helps curb the increase in blood pressure that occurs due to age. It also reduces the risk of heart disease, kidney disease, osteoporosis, stomach cancer and even headaches. 

This goes to prove the age-old adage, that prevention is better than cure. So, even if you don’t have high blood pressure, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on your dietary salt intake.

Strength Training 

In order to keep your body in good form and alignment, you need to invest some part of your training time to strength training exercises. Specifically targeting legs, glutes and core muscles; these exercises make these muscles stronger to handle the prolonged stress of running and to prevent injuries.

Here are some strength training exercises you can incorporate into your regimen: 

Planks: Help strengthen your core, lower back and shoulders

Calf raise: Stand on your toes on the edge of a raised platform/ stair and raise your heels up and slowly go down.

One-legged Squat: This is good for single leg stability & strengthening of hamstrings, quads and glutes. Stand barefoot on one leg and try to sit and stand on one leg just like we do in normal bodyweight squat. Start with a small squat and gradually increase the range of knee flexion / sit deeper into it.

Forward Lunges: Take a step forward and bend the front knee so that your front thigh is parallel to the ground, pause for a second and come back, repeat with the other leg. 

Squat to overhead Press: Grab a pair of dumbbells or two water bottles in your hands and keep them at shoulder level. Slowly sit into a deep squat and as you stand up push the weights up from the shoulder to overhead position extending your arms fully. Works on your legs / lower back and shoulder strength.

Dynamic Stretches for Warm-up 

There is now a widely held consensus that static stretching where one holds the muscles for some time is not recommended before running. However, 10 to 15 minutes of dynamic stretching is helpful before a run. These include stretches like high knee marches, walking lunges, butt kicks, spine flexion / extension and rotations, hip circles, shoulder circles etc.

The idea is to get a feel of mobilization through the joints while moving through different planes of motion and raising the core temperature of the body.

80 percent of the alcohol we consume goes to the small intestine and then enters the bloodstream. Blood carries the alcohol to the tissues and the body reacts to it depending on BAC (Blood Alcoholic Concentration) which is related to the amount of alcohol consumed.

Alcohol first impairs the communication between nerve cells in the brain thus slowing down responses. Increasing amounts of alcohol with rising BACs lead progressively onwards from euphoria, excitement to confusion, stupor, coma, and even death.

90 percent of the alcohol in the body is removed by the liver which converts the alcohol into acetate. The liver can, at best, convert 15ml of alcohol in an hour. So, depending on what you are drinking, the time taken by the liver to completely remove it from the system can vary greatly.

The amount of ethanol i.e. alcohol in an alcoholic drink is mentioned on the label. Typical ratios by volume are:

Mild to regular Beer: 0.5 to 5%; Strong Beer: 5 to 8%; Wine: 7 to 15.5%; Flavoured Rum: 25%; Country Liquor, Feni: 19 to 43%; Brandy:  36 to 50%; Gin, Rum, Whiskey, Vodka: 36 to 50% but mostly 42.4% in India.

The standard drink in India is defined as 12.7 ml of pure alcohol. So, with 42.4% alcohol content, 30ml of whiskey would make a standard drink. Similarly, for a beer with 4% alcohol, a 330ml would be a standard drink.

So how much drink is not too much drink? The recommended limit is two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. It is a daily limit and not an average so that binge over the weekend followed by 5 dry days will not work!

A recent study in the prestigious science journal Lancet analyzed 694 sources for alcohol consumption and 592 studies, both current and retrospective, and concluded that no amount of alcohol can be certified as safe.

Excessive drinking/heavy drinking is generally defined as 8 drinks per week for women and 15 for men. Excessive drinking can lead to several issues like high blood pressure, cancer, liver diseases, dementia, and depression.

There are some studies that have shown a negative correlation between heart problems and moderate drinking (defined as two drinks per day for men and one for women). It is possible that this is due to the increase in good cholesterol (HDL)which can happen with moderate consumption. At the same time, one has to be aware that alcohol can increase calorie consumption, affect the liver, and increase the chances of cancer. It depends on the individual. If you are otherwise fit and have no other bad habits, alcohol may not be damaging; But for others with any health risk, alcohol is damaging.

So, in short, if you have not started alcohol, do not start. If you are in good health, talk to your doctor and take a considered decision but do not drink more than ½ drink per day. If you have any health issues, it is best left alone.

There are ten thousand types of proteins in our bodies. Proteins are built from twenty amino acids and out of these, nine are obtained from food. These are called essential amino acids. Since the body does not store protein, the rest are made or modified inside the body.

An average person needs to get 10 to 15 percent of calories from protein and that roughly translates to 1g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Each gram of protein provides four calories.

Proteins must be taken in a certain balanced way because excessive consumption increases the loss of calcium leading to osteoporosis. It can also get metabolized to urea and this can affect your kidneys. Most cereals contain 10% of their weight as protein and for pulses, it is 20% of weight by protein. Chicken has 30% of its weight in protein and fish has 25 to 30%.

Protein is available in a wide variety of foods but it is important to know what else you are eating along with the protein. For example, red meat is a great source of protein but it comes with a high level of saturated fats. On the other hand, eating seafood will also give you omega 3 fatty acids, dairy products will also provide calcium, and beans will give you lots of fibre.

Therefore, selecting the right foods is as important as the amount of protein you consume. Seafood, chicken, eggs, nuts, pulses, beans, milk, and cheese are the good protein sources that one should opt for.

Meditative music has a significant impact on our brains. ?⁠
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The American Psychological Association (APA) continues to research and experiment with the many benefits of listening to calming and relaxing music.
They have found this simple habit to have great cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological benefits, including:⁠
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? Reducing stress levels ⁠
? Improving concentration ⁠
? Helping you sleep better⁠
? Releasing happy hormones (endorphins and serotonin)⁠
? Lowering blood pressure ⁠
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Have you tried listening to meditative music? ?⁠