“Don’t dig your grave with your own knife and fork”

— Unknown

Hey! This is my first blog post. My name is Jane and I am a nursing student living in the country of Nepal. I have a passion for health and nutrition and would like to share this passion with you. This first blog post is about my journey with health and nutrition.

I have moved to many places around the world like, The USA and Nepal. Ever since I have been a child, my diet has changed throughout and I have recently had a deep insight about my health.

I realized that health isn’t just physical, but mental, spiritual, and emotional as well. I realized that my health wasn’t good in any of these areas, and that my body was screaming, letting me know that my health was deteriorating.

The Factors for my terrible health was a high stress environment, a poor diet, and a negative thinking pattern. I needed to change these aspects of my life. We have control of our lives and the situations we are in. We control how we react and feel to the things happening around us. I realized I had a victim mindset. I would blame everything and everyone around me for the consequences that would occur, but it’s me that has control of my life and my choices. It took a while, but one day I decided to change myself for good.

In early 2019, I started smoking, drinking, eating a lot of junk food, not exercising, and just living negatively all around. At one point I was smoking, drinking apple cider vinegar, kombucha, and eating spicy food everyday. This literally destroyed the whole lining of my gut, causing extreme gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease, a disease where acid rises in the esophagus, eroding its lining which causes extreme pain and discomfort).

I started nursing school in August of 2019, and when I would go to practicals at the hospital, my body would ache so much when I would walk. For about 2 months, I would have trouble sleeping at night because of acid rising in my throat, causing a burning and nauseated sensation. Every time, I would eat, I felt like vomiting and my stomach would cramp. I was constantly bloated, and I had gained a lot of weight. It got to a point where I was bedridden for many days. I finally went to the doctor, and I got the results to my blood test, showing that I had a high cholesterol level in my blood, which is a risk factor to heart disease, and a high uric acid level, which could cause gout (a disease that causes the joints of the body to inflame and swell, causing extreme pain when walking). The Doctor said I was overweight (borderline obese), and that I would develop an ulcer if I don’t change my diet. This was a turning point for me in my life, as I realized if I didn’t change my lifestyle, I would be at risk for many diseases.

For weeks I started researching about health, fitness, and weight loss. I wanted to change, I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I knew this would be for the best. This was a lifestyle change. A permanent change. Yeah, I had been on many diets before, but this was different. This would be forever.

I had to calculate different things to figure out my goals. The doctor told me I had to lose 16 kgs (35 pounds). I weighed myself and I was 86 kgs (190 pounds). I calculated my BMI (Body mass index), which was 30. Thirty! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was borderline obese. (There are links at the bottom to calculate your BMI). I had to change. I had to change!

I found out that the easiest way to loose weight was by eating a calorie deficient. That means eating less calories than you would normally eat in order to cause your body to use the stored energy already in it. In a day I would normally eat 2200 calories to maintain my weight. So, 1 pound of weight= 3500 calories. If I eat 500 less calories a day in my diet, then that would mean I would lose about 1 pound a week!

That wasn’t all though. Even if you just eat less calories, you still won’t be able to lose a proper amount of weight unless you eat proper nutrition. Most of the foods I would eat were mostly sugary, meaty and carby. Those foods actually signal your body to store fat and not burn it. I found out that the best types of diet are nutrient dense diets. This means diets that have a high amount of nutrients in them. The trick is that these diets have a low number of calories, because the food is mostly plant based food. Plant based food are very low in calories and contains a high amount of nutrients. I found that the best type of diet for me was the flexitarian diet. This diet is mainly fruits, vegetables and nuts, with a tiny amount of protein from animals (low fatty meats like chicken and fish). I needed protein, but I would mainly have to get it from plants.

I looked up different, simple, and easy recipes for my new diet plan. It’s hard to get certain foods and ingredients in Nepal, as its a third world country, so I had to plan accordingly.

I started my diet on the 5th of January and it has been about 3 weeks since.

In the next few blogs I will talk about my results, exercise plan, diet plans, and recipes. I will also address types of diets and their benefits, and different types of health.

Thank you for reading my journey!! I hope this inspires you to change your lifestyle for the better!! Until next time…..

Here are the links to calculate BMI and Calorie Deficient:

https://www.verywellhealth.com/calorie-density-1763873

https://www.calculator.net › fitness & health