Author: hajaf

What Covid-19 taught me in these 730 days!

“Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing we all have in common” Melinda Gates

Tomorrow March 13th 2022 will make it 730 days since my husbands diagnosis of the infamous Covid-19. These two years have been like no other in my whole 50 years of living, that being said, my family and I are one of the lucky few, who got through these two years and are stronger and thankful for all our blessings.

Covid-19, has affected the whole world and each and everyone has a story to tell and in my own humble opinion, these two years have also been a learning lesson for all of us.

This virus has caused so much grief and heart break but hopefully, it has also taught us that “Together we can make a difference.” Supporting each other in good times and bad times will allow us all to be more compassionate human beings.

Here are some of my reflections from these two years:

  • Front-line staff in the hospitals are invaluable and their contribution to our health should never be taken for granted
  • Self-care is a necessity not a luxury and there should be no negotiation when it comes to basic wellbeing like sleep, movement, eating and managing stress
  • Mental health is just as important as physical health and we all need to be supportive of each other and be open and get help if needed as loneliness and anxiety is on the rise
  • Spending quality time with close family and friends is precious and Reconnecting with friends and family is key in strengthening resiliency as we come back to a new normal

Moving forward it is important to remind ourselves of all we have accomplished despite setbacks and adversity, we have all shown how resilient we are as a community by being adaptable and united in fighting this virus.

I hope everyone can reflect on the lessons learnt from these last two years as learning and growing from adversity will further strengthen the Resiliency, we all have shown!

I leave you with a powerful quote “Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing we all have in common” Melinda Gates

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National Wellness Month

Unfortunately, the months have just slipped by and it is already August!

Since wellness is my bread and butter and my passion, no better time than to use National Wellness Month to start blogging again.

I have not cooked very much this summer but I have added more aerobic activity and I feel that it is becoming part of my life. This is very gratifying to me as it has been my goal over the last 20 years to be more regimented in my working out and increasing my heart rate.

My new goal is to add more Mindfulness in my life as we all have so much going on and mindfulness allows us to be present and not in the past or future. There are many things that are out of our control and accepting that is key. That being said we do have control on how we react to situations, so I will give myself some self compassion and I hope you all will give yourself some too.

For this post, I would like to link my last three articles that got published on Thrive Global.

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/mental-health-awareness-

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/national-wellness-month/

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/social-wellness/

I hope you all can use this month to start small goals that work towards your overall wellbeing as only when we take care of ourselves can we effectively take care of others.

Start with one goal today!

Arianna Huffington: Why Taking Breaks Is Key to Performing at Our Best

Stress is inevitable. But cumulative stress is avoidable
— Read on thriveglobal.com/stories/arianna-huffington-taking-breaks-key-performance-reset/

Remembering that working from home does not mean being connected 24/7.

Take a stretch break or a snack break but move your eyes away from your screen regularly to relax and rejuvenate!

Date and Pecan Coffee Cake

The holy month of Ramadan is in less than a month and so before buying a new box of dates, I decided to use all my old dates in a delicious cake. I made the cake for a sunny day picnic in the park.

I used Mary Berrys Date and Walnut cake but I decreased the sugar and added coffee and pecans. I also added coconut and hemp seeds.

Here is the link for Mary Berry’s cake, which is absolutely delicious. It’s moist and full of the nutrition packed dates and also has almond flour. The pecans or walnuts add protein and healthy fats.

https://taleof2kitchens.com/2013/05/16/date-and-walnut-traybake-by-mary-berry/

For the pecan cake I used pecans instead of walnuts add 1 tsp instant coffee in the hot water.

1/4 cup hemp seeds and 1/4 cup coconut can be added for texture.

Nutrition Facts for Date

Medjool dates are a concentrated source of healthy nutrients. Just 2 dates (48 grams) provide:

  • Calories: 133
  • Carbs: 36 grams
  • Fiber: 3.2 grams
  • Protein: 0.8 grams
  • Sugar: 32 grams
  • Fat: 0 grams
  • Calcium: 2% of the Daily Value (DV)
  • Iron: 2% of the DV
  • Potassium: 7% of the DV
  • Copper: 19% of the DV
  • Vitamin B6: 7% of the DV
  • Magnesium: 6% of the DV

Dates offer a significant amount of fiber and variety of vitamins and minerals, including iron, potassium, B vitamins, magnesium and copper.

Oat and Almond Berry Crumble

March is National Nutrition Month and some of the the key messages for this month are: Include healthful food from all food groups, hydrate more and pay attention to the food you are eating and take time to enjoy your food.

I have been trying to add more plant foods into my diet and luckily have been making more grains like faro, recipe to come soon.

Since my first love is baking and fortunately fruits are also part of the plant family, I decided that I would only bake if the dessert had some plants in them. Unfortunately the fat and sugar does play a role but I firmly believe the quality of the dessert is the most important and the portion size. So in short practicing mindful eating and moderation. Sharing the baked goods with others also feels good.

I felt like eating a fruit crumble and the addition of oats, almonds and hemp seeds added protein and fiber, they also are beneficial for heart health. I used strawberries and blueberries instead of apples as they were for a dollar and all berries have antioxidants which play a role in brain health. I used almond flour to cut down the flour.

Berry Crumble

Ingredients

  • Strawberries 1 pound
  • 1/4 cup almond meal
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds or sliced
  • 4 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1/2 stick of cold butter or 8 Tbsp
  • 3 tbsp. hemp seeds
  • 3 tbsp. coconut shredded
  • Method: Heat the oven to 400 degrees and then slice the strawberries and sprinkle with sugar and almond flour and add to a square baking dish. For the crust, add the flour, baking powder and salt to a bowl and mix in the cold butter, till it resembles crumbs. Then add the sugar, oats and sliced almonds, mix well. Now add the hemp seeds and coconut. Sprinkle the oat mixture onto the berries, covering all the berries. Bake in the heated oven for 30 minutes. The aroma will fill your house. You can eat alone or add ice cream like my husband did. Todays crumble is for my niece who enjoys fruit desserts.
Oaty Strawberry and almond crumble

One year for Covid 19

I cannot believe we are into March!

A whole year since the start of the first Covid patient in NYP, I also cannot forget 3/13 the day AJ was diagnosed with COVID-19.

The good news is we have a new president, who seems to take Covid seriously, we also have started vaccinations and I am hoping to God, that everyone can get this much needed vaccine.

The bad news is this virus is not planning to go away and we have to change the way we live to be safe for ourselves and others around us.

Masking, staying away from major crowds especially indoors is needed to lower the infections.

In this post, I want to talk about how we can take care of our emotional and physical health, regardless of what the situation is around us.

We may not be able to control many things that are happening but the good news is we can control how we react to what we hear and see.

That is what being resilient means, being able to bounce back from stressful situations and adversity by learning and growing from the event.

Two skills that can help build our resiliency and have played a huge role in my personal and professional life are, Mindfulness and Self care.

I talked about Self-Care in my last blog, today I want to talk about the power of being mindful daily.

Let me start by distinguishing the difference between meditation and mindfulness.

Meditation is a formal seated practice and mindfulness is the ability to be present in any situation.

I have tried to meditate for years as the benefits are numerous and the practice is evidence based, but unfortunately have still not been able to successfully adopt this practice and be consistent. This last year, I offered myself self compassion and accepted that meditation is not for everyone!

That being said, practicing mindfulness is also an evidence based practice that has benefits.

To really explain mindfulness, I would to give you my personal story.

Most of my life, I have also been called hyper and scatter brained and I just accepted that was who I was but this last year when I started Health and well-Being Coaching, things changed.

One of the most important skills of coaching is being mindful and I realized before teaching others I had to model it in my own life.

I was under the assumption that being mindful when I practiced yoga was enough but that is where I was mistaken, yoga is beneficial for mind and body but Mindfulness, can be done any where anytime and can take from a few seconds to as long as you want.

Being mindful means paying attention to the task at hand. Being intentional in whatever you are doing. We spend more than fifty percent of our day on autopilot, thinking about the past or about the future and we rarely pay attention to the present moment. Our whole day goes by going from one thing to another and by the time it’s night we sleep and the next day it’s the same all over again.

MF can be practiced throughout the day, some ideas to help you start:

Being mindful in your daily tasks, from simple things like taking a shower and feeling the water on your body and smell the soap to brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. The more you pay attention, the greater chance you will enjoy the activity.

Mindful movement is where I really practice MF, when I walk on the streets instead of talking on the phone or listening to anything, I pay attention to what is around me and try to notice things that I have never seen. This practice allows me to really enjoy my walk and when I finish, I feel like I have noticed so many things that I never paid attention to.

Mindful listening is an important skill for a coach as listening to the other person, without being distracted or thinking about the next thing that we want to say, takes away from the speaker. MF listening allows the speaker to fill validated, which can help relationships.

Mindful eating is a necessity we are constantly surrounded by food and with food and by commercials. Most of the time, we eat while distracted. When you don’t pay attention, there is a greater chance to eat with your emotions overeat. Mindfulness helps you make wise decisions and allow awareness to hunger

This post has become quite long and I hope you got something from it, to take into your own life.

I am so grateful to all of you who read my blog!

New Year, New You!

Happy New Year to all my friends Far and Near.

2020 has been unlike any in the past but that does not mean we cannot start 2021 on a positive note. Positivity is the key to being resilient, which helps us move forward and allows us to learn and grow from all stressful situations, big and small.

Starting and ending our day by being grateful for the smallest blessings, can play a role in how our day and night goes by, this morning I was grateful for the hot cup of coffee that kept me awake and warm and now I am grateful for the heater that buzzes while I write.

Each one of us has gone through some trial and tribulation, more so in 2020. We all deserve some self compassion and some self love as it is very hard to truly give to others without burning out and making ourselves sick both physically and mentally..

I urge all of you to read my article below and do something for yourself today!

https://healthmatters.nyp.org/how-to-practice-self-care-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

You can do anything!!!

Almond chocolate cake

Happy New Year to all of you, I hope and pray 2021 brings us all abundant blessings and good health and happiness to all.

I spent the end of the year with my loved friends and family and the love I received is truly overwhelming.

In this time of social distancing from the world, I feel is a perfect time to bond with our immediate loved ones and take time for our selves which we all need desperately and don’t realize.

In Karachi I was able to cook and bake a few times and my chocolate almond cake has been a hit, it is a simple and quick recipe that I wanted to share, it takes less than 15 minute to make and around 25minutes to bake and is delicious. It does have sugar but the almond, cocoa powder and eggs give it some nutrition!

Let me know what you all think?

Recipe : chocolate almond cake

  • 1 1/4 cup almonds
  • 1 cup sugar or coconut sugar
  • 3 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • Method
  • Heat oven at 350 degrees.
  • In a food processor , crush almonds then add the sugar and baking powder and salt and crush again. Once it’s fine crumbs add the eggs and pulse then add the oil and vanilla. Pour mixture into an 8 inch pan and bake for 25-30minutes. Once it’s out you can sprinkle cocoa powder or icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream..The cake was in honor of my handsome nephew who is getting married next week!
  • May god bless their marriage with everlasting love and happiness.

    • What is self-care?

    Time just flies and tomorrow is the first day of November, I cannot believe we are already entering winter and both spring and summer are gone. Unfortunately with the start of winter, for most of us the weather gets colder and the clocks go back 1 hour, giving us less daylight after we finish work. All those factors affect our emotional health, and the uncertain situation around us adds to this stress on all fronts.

    We may not have control over a lot of things that are going around us, but we do have control on how we react. This brings me to todays topic of the importance of Self-Care.

    As a breast cancer survivor, I learnt about Self-Care after my grueling chemotherapy. I learnt that Self-care is not selfish and we all need the self love and compassion that we give to others. Self-care helped build my self-esteem and confidence which then and allowed me to become a yoga instructor. Yoga changed my life and it all started with me making myself important in my own eyes.

    According to the Oxford English Dictionary, self-care can be defined as “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.” In simple words it is taking small steps to take care of yourself.

    Self-care includes all the things you do to take care of your physical, emotional and spiritual health, it is a legitimate practice for your overall wellbeing. Often people sacrifice self-care for a variety of reasons, they are focused on caring for others and they feel guilty or are too busy. When life becomes overwhelming self-care is ignored and the paradox is that you need self-care most when you don’t think you have time for it.

     By giving yourselves some of the love and compassion you give to others and by prioritizing your wellbeing you can be better equipped to take care of your loved ones, therefore self-care is not selfish.

     Self-care is personal for each and every one of you. Making a list of things that bring you joy and trying to do a few of them each day is important because “Knowing” doesn’t bring change, action does. When you begin to take action each day, self-care will eventually become a lifestyle, not a to-do list. When self-care becomes part of your lifestyle, you become more productive, have more confidence and can achieve more work-life balance, which ultimately leads to optimal wellbeing.

    Promoting lifestyle factors like healthy eating, regular sleep, hydration and regular physical activity can strengthen your ability to adapt to stress and be able to bounce back from adversity or stressful situations. It can help against anxiety and depression.

    As a NYPBeHealthy Wellbeing Coach, my goal is to help empower employees in making small meaningful and realistic goals which can help with resiliency. Small successes may lead to lifestyle and changes in habit. Mindfulness is one strategy in helping my clients with their personal wellbeing.

    Learning to be mindful in your daily life can help when you are overwhelmed. Mindfulness is the ability to be in the present moment and pay attention to the task at hand, it can be practiced any day and any time, the key is remembering to do it. You can be mindful in your daily tasks, from breathing, movement, eating, in fact being intentional in whatever you do is mindfulness.  It allows you to stop, refocus and come out of your autopilot and any negative thoughts. You are more likely to be engaged and productive when you pay attention to the task at hand.

    Now more than ever, do we need to take small steps to focus on our optimal wellbeing as every little thing we do counts in helping manage our stress.  Here are some ideas:

    slow down, relax, take it easy, keep calm and other motivational lifestyle reminders on colorful sticky notes

    I love this image and I hope you all are trying to do some of these things for your health.

    I have still been baking since it brings me joy, but I try to bake only for friends, so the baked good gets shared. I also have started doing more yoga just simple sun salutations as I am suffering from politics anxiety. Please remember to not doom scroll as reading too much information on news websites or social media can exacerbate anxiety and depression, which can lead us to negative thought cycles.

    Right now, we all need resilience to get through the next few months, so please practice any form of self-care you can.

    To welcome the cold weather, I made Stewed apple oatmeal , it filled me up and I got some fiber and some protein.

    Stewed Apple Oatmeal

    Ingredients

    2 apples chopped

    2 cups rolled oats

    1 tbs butter

    1 tsp cinnamon

    2 tbs maple syrup

    1/2 tsp chia seeds

    1-2 tbs chopped nuts

    1 1/2 cup almond milk

    2 cups of water

    Method

    Add the butter to a small saucepan and sauté the apples for a few minutes, then add some water the cinnamon and maple syrup and cook till apples slightly soft. Add the 2 cups rolled oats and 1 1/2 cup almond milk and water, cook till oats soft. You can add more milk or water depending on the consistency you enjoy of your oatmeal. Take out in a small bowl and add the chia seeds, nuts and drizzle with maple syrup if you want. A cup of coffee and the warm oatmeal made me smile.

    What makes you smile?

    How Flu Shots Can Help in the Fight Against Covid-19 – The New York Times

    Experts worry that the two diseases could overwhelm the health care system and create a new shortage of hospital beds and personal protective equipment.
    — Read on www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/well/live/how-flu-shots-can-help-in-the-fight-against-covid-19.html

    Friendship Week: Support

    Not only do good friends make us feel good, they also help us overcome life’s challenges. This week, Tara will explain some of the ways that healthy friendships have positive effects on our physical and mental health.

    — Read on art19.com/shows/my-wellness-minute/episodes/5ffffacd-c91d-4453-8caa-ae6983b5c6b6