Gosh! I "need" to post this on Facebook!!

I am not posting a beautiful picture of mine on the beach at sunset in the perfect dress. I am not posting a picture of mine jumping in joy with a creative blur of city lights behind me. I am not posting the black and white picture of the perfect steam coming from the cup of coffee in my hands. I am posting instead a few lines about a recent incident in which I acted irrationally and was not proud of. Nothing illegal or immoral or too personal. Just something small I did, big enough yet for me to learn a lesson. Why did I do that ?
Because that too is life! Of course I want to share all the happy moments of life with my friends on Facebook. But what happens when I keep posting the "perfect pictures" and never the "imperfect" one's: what happens sub-consciously? What happens to us when looking at these pictures is something very similar to how advertising works. We are shown a beautiful, happy, sexy scene, that sometimes has nothing to do with the product and yet sub-consciously we associate the product with all that we see : Happiness!

When we see people always happy, always beautiful that is what our sub-conscious registers. No matter how much we may think out loud that everyone's life has its share of ups and downs, one would continue to feel that our own life is not matching up to the "bar" of prosperity or joy set by others in our life (social life). This is inspired by a recent article I read about Mark Zukerburg sharing about his wife's miscarriages on the social media.

This either creates a strong urge to do the things that you see others doing, just so you can post about it! Yeah Yeah Yeah, I know you really felt inspired to do the skydive looking at your friends picture, but was it really you who appreciates the "eye-appeal" of that Biryani ? Did you always want a picture of yours with arms open in the middle of mountains ? The point is, when you post something that is "picture perfect" you are advertising your life to be that perfect. And that is not real.
There was a 5 hour flight, 2 hour drive, 3 hours of hike in which you felt sweaty, hungry, tired and breathless before you could spread your arms in the midst of the mountains. How about a picture of you in the middle of the hike with your face all red ? Do you dare to do that?

It might just be ok, from time to time, to post about the real you. Some challenge you faced. A picture you weren't looking perfect in.

And sometimes.... it is perfectly okay to not post at all.

Hope you all have a realistic day :P.


PS: I am going to post my pictures with me in the middle of the mountains as soon as  I find them :P

"To eat or not to eat"-- By a software developer

Have you been reading up a lot about what is healthy enough to eat and what is not ? Are you confused by the contradictory opinions, and being called crazy by your friends for your ever changing opinions on what is good and what is not ?I am.
I have also been playing around with lot of different diet options to see what works and what doesn't. Been reading up a LOT and been asking doctors of modern medicine, Ayurved, Naturopathy... the list goes on. After all this experimentation, I have started to realize that eating healthy is very similar to writing a good elegant piece of code. I have pieced together few basics (written a little bit in SDLC lingo) which pretty much summarize the pillars of healthy eating.

Software developer or not, I think the following points would be helpful to all when question "Is this thing I am about to eat healthy for me ?"

1. Less processed food is like a well documented code.
Our body works like a machine. We all know it. It expects a certain input and a specific format (which *is* quite a big range).  Personal experimentation have shown, the closer something is to being raw and unprocessed, the easier it is for our body to understand how to best extract nutrition out of it.
If you put in something that has been cooked, then fried, then frozen.. you are confusing your system quite a bit. Even if the starting ingredient was organic and freshly picked, it is now too far from the origin to retain much nutrition.

2. Not reading the ingredients and nutrition facts, is like not reading documentation.
If you are planning to out source a part of your software to a third party implementation, the least you can do is to read what they have to say about their product!! If you cannot do that, you cannot complain about any side effects it may cause. Thats step1.

Step 2, it is important to understand what is written, and read between the lines!! Yes, on the cover it says "All Natural", "Fat- Free" etc etc. This may sound like a perfect snack!! But beware, look behind in the ingredient list. Is there anything that you don't understand ?  Can you do a quick Google and see what that "natural flavor" is ? Thanks to the plethora of articles written on almost every ingredient, this step shouldn't be hard. It might be confusing though, as more often than not, there are conflicting opinions. My rule of thumb for this is : "Even if 40% of people say it is bad, why should I risk it!"

3. But this is organic brown sugar. This can't be that bad!!.
Not saying that sugar is good or bad. But sugar in any form is sugar. Be watchful how many gms of it you are putting in your body. Unless you are running right after eating the sugary treat, odds are it'll probably add up to your fat.

4. Get the requirements right - Know what you really need.
One of the big advantages in today's time is to have good medical diagnosis available to a lot of us. Now, there may not be a cure available all the time, but it is always a better option to go see a doctor, get a complete physical done and see your numbers for yourself. "My symptoms are very similar to a friend of mine. I must have a the same issue. I should follow the same diet" isn't very scientific and may delay your progress or even put you on a wrong path.

5. The only way to learn how to code, is to do it yourself!: 
The best way to find out what works for your body is to find it practically. If you have heard from 10 people that juicing is good, maybe try it for 2 weeks!! See how you feel!. Once you know what specific nutrients you are lacking, see what natural alternatives are available to you.

6. Clean and simple is always a winner.
Can you get some fresh organic ingredients and make a meal ? Perfect!You have a winner!!
Cooking something by your own hands helps you sleep at peace since you know what you put in it.
Yes, we all have days when we are too tired to cook. A freshly prepared meal from a restaurant is also a lot better than something that is canned or frozen.

Would love to hear from you : what are your basics for a healthy diet ?