Fitness tips for women in their 30's - By Seema Verma

     As a woman reaches her 30’s she is well established in her career or is busy leading a family life and taking care of kids. There are some women who juggle work with raising school aged children, playing the role of a daughter in law and wife. In most cases, women in their 30’s are surrounded with responsibilities and hence they tend to overlook their personal health and tend to concentrate on their work or family. Being too busy in their work or lack of time for self are the two main reasons that women stop caring for themselves.

     Studies suggest that human body peaks at 25 and as the individual grows older and gets to the onset of 30, the metabolism slows down, bone density starts decreasing, muscles lose mass and body fats start accumulating faster than ever.

     Women should not just sit back and accept the physical changes happening in the body. It is essential that they start working on their bodies to slow down the natural processes of their body and to feel good about themselves. They should take care of their fitness in their 30’s to avoid health problems as they reach their 40’s and to get rid of stubborn fat that has been accumulated over the years.

     Fitness is like retirement saving. Fitness can be obtained by diet as well as exercise. Well Known Nutritionist Sweta from DENMARC says “Fitness with diet can be obtained by eating a balanced diet:

1. Eat breakfast as it is the first meal of the day and helps the body gain its fuel to last for the entire day.
2. Drink at least 10-12 glasses of plain water every day.
3. Eat small meals throughout the day as it wil help to control frequent cravings and maintain blood sugar levels.
4. Add protein in every meal as protein helps to build muscle mass and burn more fats which in turn helps to reduce belly fat.
5. Avoid junk food.
6. Add lots of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet.”

     Well Known Nutritionist Pooja Lodha Shah adds, “Every woman in her 30's should make sure to incorporate calcium-rich foods into their regimen: ideally, two or three servings a day of low-fat dairy products, calcium-fortified orange juice, soy milk/products, almonds, walnuts and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli, etc. She should eat a regular diet of fiber rich foods such as whole grains and fresh produce as fiber improves digestion and increases satiety. Keeping an eye on portion sizes is equally important.”

     Along with eating a healthy and balanced diet it is important to exercise regularly to slow down the natural process of your body and leave you feeling good about yourself. Health experts recommend dividing each session as 40% for cardio exercises, 40% for strength and 20% for flexibility.

To start with basic exercise for the 30’s:

1. The 30-minute walk-run interval session can  help you burn maximum calorie in minimum time.
2. Try simple yoga which will help you distress your mind and body.
3. Join your favorite activity or fitness class

     Well known celebrity trainer Paul Britto has a wonderful concept of maintaining fitness. He explains, “Most women stop taking care of their physical body due to their busy schedules at home or work. Schedules cannot be changed, but it is important to look deeper and find time where you can spend time for yourself and for your body. For instance when your kids have a day off or you have a weekly off at work.

     Selecting a time for yourself is the first step in working towards your fitness. It is important to select 2-3 days (at least 2 days) in a week then program your day and work towards your fitness. Adding activity to your regular schedule not only makes you feel energetic but also helps to build your confidence and zest for living.

     The second step after selecting the ‘me time’ is making a list of five favorite activities that you enjoy doing the most. It could be working out in the gym, playing a sport, aerobics, dance etc.

     The third step is implementation. You need to schedule your timing for the day and activity that you have selected. If you have selected 2 days, you can start with the most favorite activity for one day and correspond it with your second favorite activity the next day and so on. If you rotate between all the five activities you will repeat the first activity only after 3 weeks.

     Following the pattern of performing your favorite activity does not get monotonous and you can notice visible changes in your body.

     You are performing your favorite activity so the exercise does not feel like a chore and you enjoy the fitness routine and at the same time see visible results. You are performing different activities so your body is challenged. This shocks your body which shows effective results hence you do not need to change your routine for a longer period of time.

     The only point to monitor is to improve your activity in each class. Try and push yourself a little more in every class. If you cannot increase the time try to increase the intensity or work harder in every class.” Studies suggest that exercising lowers down the woman’s risk of osteoporosis by 45%, breast cancer by 37% and heart disease by 14 %.

     Do not let your hectic schedules prevent you from squeezing 30 minutes of exercise time for yourself. Last, but not the least, start slowly.

    Healthy diet and regular exercise will help add life to your years.

The important points to take care before buying a Health Insurance Policy.

       The important points to take care before buying a Health Insurance Policy. We normally take insurance to cover or guard against uncertain things.  A major medical expenses can eat away your entire savings and put you in a bad financial situation.  This is the very reason why it is advisable to take health insurance to safe guard your financial interest. It is very essential to buy health insurance and  seems mandatory to most of us, let us look at most important aspects before choosing a health insurance company/policy:

1) Third party administrator (TPA) – With a whole lot of insurance companies in the market, it’s confusing as to which one to choose. Some insurance companies have a Third Party Administrator (TPA) who act as intermediary between Insurer and Insured and are responsible for Claim settlements. Having a TPA can sometimes increase the claim settlement time. Hence, it is better to choose an Insurance company which operates without a TPA since we can directly interact with them and claim settlement would be faster and hassle free.

2) Network hospitals – It’s important that an Insurance company has a lot of network hospitals in place. It will enable us to choose one which is reputed and also accessible to us. Distance of the hospital becomes very important especially when there is an emergency.

3) Sum assured needed – Unlike life insurance, there is no specific formula to calculate the amount of sum assured needed in a health insurance policy. However, with medical inflation at more than 15%, we would better be over insured rather than under insured. At this inflation, a surgery which costs us INR 2 lakh today would cost us INR 4 lakh after 5 years. Also, with more and more hospitals resembling five star hotels we need to choose an amount which will suffice for the next 15-20 years.

4) Guaranteed renewal benefit – One of the most important things to note is whether the insurer is ready to offer us a guaranteed renewal of the policy for life. This clause obligates the insurer to continue the coverage as long as premiums are paid on the policy. However, premiums can rise based on the filing of a claim, injury, or other factor that could increase the risk of future claims.

5) No claim bonus – Usually, insurance companies offer a bonus if there has been no claim made in the previous year. The bonus would be a discount in the next year’s premium. The common discount offered is 5% for a claim free year and can go up to 50% for 10 consecutive claim free years. This is good for a person who is healthy and doesn’t make claims often. But, it doesn’t really suit someone who suffers from illnesses quite often and requires making claims.

6) Cashless hospitalization – Cashless hospitalization is an excellent facility which takes away stress from us during hospitalization, especially during emergencies. Such a clause would help us in emergency hospitalization wherein we need not run for money. However, such facility would only be available in network hospitals. In case of non-network hospitals, we need to pay first and then claim for re-imbursement.

7) Sub limits – Quite a lot of health insurance companies have scrapped the sub limits on room rents, doctor fees and so on which they started imposing three years ago. But, how about the existing policies which we have been renewing since the past few years? There is a definite need to know the sub limits in our policy document. In case there are sub limits, we need to make sure that we know the network hospitals near us whose cost structure is in line with these limits.

    Apart from these, we can also look for personal accident or critical illness policies which cover us for treatment towards temporary/permanent disablement, loss of income due to disablement, death benefit. An individual/family health insurance is highly recommended despite of being covered under a group health insurance from the employer, primarily because of uncertainties in jobs. We can also opt for a top up insurance which will make sure that any claim above the limit offered by the employer would be taken care of.

Prakash Nair

Certified Personal Financial Adviser (CPFA)

Try this remedy for Cough

For all those with kids/infants/toddlers at home:Try this remedy, It works 100%  of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.

        To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or  adult  as  we  found  out personally), put Vicks Vaporub  generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.

        Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

        It  was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children  at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

        An  adult  friend tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm  blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and  believe me, this was a deep, ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable  cough,  and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

So, if  you  have  kids/grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try yourself and you will be absolutely amazed...