Health and wellness found a new dimension in Luke Coutinho’s address on holistic nutrition and lifestyle to the members of the Ladies Study Group last month at Pala, ITC Sonar. The session ‘Holistic Nutrition and Lifestyle with Luke Coutinho’ was aimed at highlighting how changes in our daily lifestyle can make a difference in wellbeing. The conversation was steered forward by wellness and communication coach Kanchan Wadi and LSG president Bhawna Agarwal.
Luke focused on the importance of perception and the need to empower ourselves with thought, experience and knowledge. In keeping ourselves healthy it is not just the food or exercise, but a number of other things which influence us, like our hormones, personal relationships, environment, stress levels and so on. Kanchan brought up the concern of the increasing number of people with various diseases despite being informed and health-conscious. The most important part of Luke’s response was the need to listen to our body. “We are looking outside when our body tells us the needs from inside…maybe we are too health conscious? Look at other people who have aged well and learn from them. We need to be able to trust our sense of balance. Then the most important thing is consistency. The four main pillars are sleep, nutrition, exercise and motion wellness and this is exactly what I mean by holistic wellness,” said Luke.
(l-r) Shalini Nopany, Kanchan Wadi, Bhawna Agarwal
"It was a very informative session covering so many aspects of holistic nutrition and lifestyle, and a great learning of how to nurture our body with nutrition from the earth, exercise to create the fire to burn calories, meditate to be in the best mental space, drink water to keep us hydrated, sleep well to help reset our gut, and breathe clean air for oxygen so that our brain performs better," said Bhawna Agarwal, LSG president.
"It was an absolute pleasure listening to Luke on something so relevant today. His insights on holistic nutrition and wellness are valuable and can be incorporated into our lives for healthier living," said Shalini Nopany, owner of 85 Lansdowne.
Another focus of the conversation was people’s perception of genetics. Luke emphasised the dual role played by the environment and genes in deciding our health conditions. “We should not be scared of our genes but be aware of it,” said Luke. The right mindset can go a long way in determining our health and Luke also brought into the conversation the importance of “gratitude and humbleness” in being able to lead a fulfilled life which automatically propels our emotional wellness. Feeling good about something is way more important than what the internet has got to say about that.
Bhawna Agarwal followed up with some questions concerning our daily lives. When the question of eating nuts the right way came up, Luke swore upon eating soaked nuts over raw or roasted. The final question of the evening was the commonality between all the cases he has dealt with and he said: “Without a doubt, it was a lot of prayer and a trust in miracles and destiny.” The event was followed by a brief Q&A session where the audience got to clarify some of their health concerns.
A t2 chat with Luke: In contemporary times of excessive mental stimulation and sedentary lifestyle, how does one incorporate holistic nutrition to create the right mind-body balance and what is holistic nutrition according to you?
We have to be more mindful and decide how much of life we want to take onto our plates. At the same time, we have to enable the body and mind through our exercise, food choices and mainly sleep. Mindfulness and awareness become a big part of what we want to do in life.
What are the ways to identify our individual body and mind needs to make the right lifestyle changes?
You need to break away from consuming so much outside content. You should be only consuming content that you think you need. Sometimes everything is right in your life but you see something else and feel you want to follow that when you did not need it at all. Whatever information you are taking in life, you need to put a perspective to it. Does this make sense to me? Don’t blindly follow it, you must be rational.
What are your suggestions for the young generation with social media platforms and the vast world of influencing being their go-to lifestyle guidebook?
If you are going on social media to be influenced you are basically giving your control away to people. Don’t get influenced, you should look up to people who inspire you, and empower you with action points that can make a difference in your life rather than influencing you with things that just sound good.
What was your inspiration behind creating the YouCare Wellness Program?
The inspiration is to get everyone to understand and address the root cause of their problems and to use medicine and what exists beyond medicine, lifestyle changes, nutrition, sleep, and emotional wellness. The program is holistic in nature to help people address the root cause of their problem so that eventually doctors can help them with medication.
How was your experience of talking to the LSG members?
It is always a great experience!
Debarati Pal (t2 intern)
Pictures: Rashbehari Das