Convenient food and the inconvenient weighty gains

Ever wondered why those extra dollops keep popping up all over your torso? Oh my dear self, I have been eating so diligently, everything 'supposedly freshly prepared', straight from the food stall or restaurant kitchen, yet I do not find that shapely me that used to be cynosure of my and other eyes around me.

The problem lies in the realisation of the mundane rather than a microscopic zeroing on the rarefied complexity. Many a times, we miss the simple ordinary for that exceptional extraordinary. Something, which was right under our eyes, yet we were circumnavigating the globe for it.

Accurately, the same situation followed me on my wayback to Dubai where I had to earn a living, now I have another mouth to feed besides mine after culminating of my wedding.In this endeavour, I had to level the field for making our nest.

Making the initial headway was tough, donning the mantle of a life insurance and savings personnel in an unfamiliar market. Straight out from an academics and analytical background, it was a real rough weathering. 

However, I took matters in my hands, facing the wind to build a career in the unknown.In this survival game, the hugely popular go to Middle Eastern quick bite Shawarma, became my express saviour. 

Little did I consider the meaty tidbits to be anything but a tasty, economical bite, which doused my belly fires momentarily. A super convenient food instead of the 'convenience' food, prevalent in supermarket chains around the world, and gaining popularity among the millennials and Generation Z crowds. 

Starting the day in office with two ordered wrappers, filled with chicken peices and boiled egg slices, laced with generous layering of mayonnaise and some shreds of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and onions. It was supposed to be the perfect beginning for the day, rounding this minor feast with milk coffee served by the office janitor, so it became the first freebie of the morning. Ahh..a fulfilling start to the day!

Going outside the office was a challenge in itself without personal car in the searing heat. Wait for public transportation or taxi wearing a business suit, compounded the challenge.However, work has to be done, business need to be found and the tiller had to be filled in.Get up and go man, whatever the struggles.

The single minded pursuit for survival and career enhancement, pushed me to go out for business. Never mind if sweetened fizzy drinks had to be drunk to beat the heat and sweat, no matter Shawarma quick bites had to be eaten or some ultra processed snack packet had to be devoured in full..just go on man irrespective! The survival mode is on.

What about lunchtime? Some oily chicken stew with refined flour bread or white buttered rice formed my staple diet, and often repeated in the evening meal.Sometimes in mistaken belief from my leaner days, I would skip the last meal for half a kilogram of roasted cashews sold by the neighborhood supermarket.What an ignorant trade off! not realising that this seemingly healthier approach is a one way street to an overloaded calorie train.The restaurant's oily stew or buttered rice is still a shade lesser evil than this packet of calorific spree.

Every morning waking up, I thought to trim these overnight calories by performing some aerobics and standard pushups, and Aha..I am done for the morning, rest would follow from movements on the street.Oblivious to the fact that the calories piled up are submerging my physical frame. The calorie line up was like a parasitical creeper in my internal system.Pulling its load all over my heart, lungs, liver and other vitals, while wrapping the loops as visceral fat around my bulging belly. 

The heat was adding to my cup of woes, emitting out in boils on my cheeks and Adam apple. I was in misery. Gradually, milder weather and medication calmed my body down. 

I had been reasonably successful and built up a buffer for bringing my significant half to a completely different life of new set of challenges and opportunities. However, you overlook the decimation of work health balance, wrought on by the urge to fill in on the convenient food served by eating outlets, snack packets and fizzy drinks, can outlast on your body that it becomes a mighty overhang for the better part of your life.

Well, how the journey unfolds with the advent of home cooking and the lifestyle changes is another unwrap. Go for more in this glorious pursuit of an ordinary leaner living. 

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