By Express News Service CHENNAI: Health is natural. Falling sick is unnatural.” It was with this fundamental and basic thought that Dr Sunita Maithreya conducted a talk and interactive session exclusively for women on Saturday. She spoke at length about the various factors that are leading to frequent illnesses and also ways to combat it in order to lead healthier and prolonged lives. She emphasised on stress, pollution, untimely food consumption, nutrition, having right amount of water, exercise and staying away from alcohol and tobacco, if possible, or keeping its use in check. “Maintain a food diary where you note down all that you have eaten in the day,” Dr Sunita said. “That way you yourself may feel like I have ordered in for three days and should probably eat home food the next day. Make sure to make healthy choices. When you can make lime juice at home, we still prefer to go out and buy an aerated drink. This is simply because we have become very lazy as people and money has little value.” As a thumb rule, she said, one must eat fruits and vegetables that are grown not more than 500 kilometers away and that too seasonal ones. She went on to add that there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding water intake. “Ayurveda says that one must drink water only when thirsty,” she said. “It is important to sip any liquids rather than gulp it down. Avoid drinking water that is unnaturally cooled and keep your intake to a minimum of about 8-10 medium-sized glasses in a day, this is including your tea and coffee.” When it comes to exercise, she said it was ‘unfortunate’ that people only think of the gym, when walking and yoga are as effective and activities that can be sustained in the later years too. She spoke of the benefits of walking as a way to not only clear your mind of negativity and depression, but also a good way to forge friendships with others and this, she said, was extremely important especially for women. “Having good friends is very important especially for women,” she said. “Depression and anxiety often stem from not having anyone to talk to. I would just say that you must never take any decision when you are depressed and when you find yourself getting hassled, do something that makes you happy and distracts you and always tell yourself, ‘This too shall pass’. Keep telling yourself that ‘I’m the best’.” Dr Sunita spoke of the importance of moderation in everything and said that one must not be too hard on oneself when it comes to exercising. “Don’t compare yourself to others but rather try to do your best. Even when it comes to sleep, the time you sleep, the duration you sleep for and the quality of sleep are very important.”

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