We have all heard, seen or experienced at some point in our life, how the food we consume can transform our body, mind and soul. Depending on the choices we make, the transformation could be for the better or for the worse. Today, we wish to share a real life story that is inspirational and extraordinary in every way.
A transformation achieved by a simple, ordinary, next-door person; someone we can all relate to. His name is Jayanand Wagh. His journey towards achieving his fitness goal started with an innocent demand from his daughter, Angel.
Angel demanded and pestered that he teach her how to ride a bicycle. He was obese when she made this request. Poor eating habits, erratic sleeping patterns and sedentary work-life were just some of the many factors that contributed to his unhealthy weight gain.
He spent hours like most of us these days, sitting on his chair working on his computer. When hungry, he relied on processed food as they were easy to cook and required zero to less preparation. He would start his day with food that would be removed from a plastic package straight into a pot and then on his plate. Instant food such as a Maggi was his breakfast. He ate this breakfast every day for many years. He denied his body any physical activity, stared for hours into his computer, drank umpteen cups of chai during the course of the day and all of this led to inadequate and poor quality sleep at night. As though this wasn’t enough, he would also drink a lot of aerated drinks, smoke and drink alcohol during weekends.
Despite all this, his body didn’t give up on him.
His daughter was persistent with her demand that he teach her how to ride a bicycle and just one day, the father in him had to give in. He started taking her to a park every day for an hour to teach her. The realization of his poor health soon dawned on him when a simple act of running and pushing the bicycle seemed like a herculean task.
He said, “Being unable to do a simple task such as teaching my daughter how to ride a bicycle because I was overweight and unable to run, bend or hold the bicycle made me very frustrated”.
This troubled him dearly and got him pondering about the lifestyle choices he had been making. He realized that it wasn’t too late to make the necessary changes and made the best decision for himself – to love himself. To take care of himself. Right from the start, he was very clear on one thing, which was, he would not use any shortcut to achieve a healthy life. He wasn’t going to blindly follow any fad diets, nor was he going to resort to any kind of treatment. He was focused on achieving holistic living, naturally.
His goals were broadly divided into two stages. Stage one, lose weight. Stage two, be fit enough to run a full Marathon.
Once he had the clarity on what his health goals were and how he wanted to go the natural way to achieve these goals, it felt like the Universe aligned to help him connect with all the right people. He started looking up and carefully selected his mentors to help achieve his goals; one of them was Holistic Health Coach, Luke Coutinho. While he followed Luke Coutinho closely, he chanced upon the opportunity to meet him in person at one of the Farmer Markets organized by his team.
It was at one of these markets that he was introduced to Two Brothers Organic Farms and team TBOF. He consciously researched about the healthier food options suggested by Luke, watched all his videos religiously. When he learnt about TBOF, the way we produced our food, the values with which we practiced traditional method of farming, food processing and production, our effort to preserve the nutrients in our products, all of this information made him feel confident in trying our products. He was keen to try the food we made after learning that our products were completely natural. Our farm being an Organic certified farm increased his trust in us. He met us at the Farmer’s market, then many times at Luke’s Wellness Markets and felt a deeper connection after learning what we do.
With the help of his better half, Anita, he learnt how to cook. He testifies that including TBOF products in his diet helped him tremendously in achieving his goals. They were, however, not miracle food. The right exercise, balanced and nutritious food, quality sleep, meditation, work-life balance and a positive outlook on life equally helped him in achieving his goals.
Jayanand narrates, “TBOF products that I used were - Cultured Ghee, Peanut Butter, Buttermilk, Lemon Pickle, Peanut Oil, Sattu Ladoo, Peanut Chutney, Lemon slices, Chyawanprash, Moringa powder, Immunity boosting powder, Jaggery block, Crushed Jaggery, Liquid Jaggery (Kaakvi) and lemon squash. All these were useful in achieving my marathon dream, every product was recommended by my wellness mentor. God bless the entire TBOF team.”
He replaced all refined cooking oil with the single filtered, Wood-pressed Groundnut oil and Desi Ghee he purchased from TBOF. He reduced his daily intake of chai, and when he did drink chai, instead of adding refined sugar, he used farm-made Natural Jaggery from TBOF. He completely stopped using refined sugar, and wherever a sweetener was required he used this Jaggery.
To meet his protein, calcium and carbohydrate requirements, in addition to other food, he chose A2 Gir Cow Buttermilk that he purchased from TBOF at the Saturday Farmer's Market in Dadar/Matunga (Mumbai). He intentionally stayed away from packed protein and health supplements. For calcium, apart from other food, he also drank our Lemon squash, had lemon pickle with his meals and chewed on lemon slices for snack. His mid snack that used to be mostly street-food like Vada pav and samosa, were now replaced by homemade snacks and he would sometimes use TBOF peanut butter as a filling snack or ate a Sattu Laddoo. He found this to not only be a delicious option but also met his nutritional requirements such as protein, magnesium and potassium. To help boost his immunity, he consumed the Chyawanprash and Immunity Boosting Powder - a special formula powder formulated by Luke Coutinho himself.
In his own words, Jayanand says, “My ongoing 4.5 years 'SELF TRANSFORMATION MIRACLE' using the magic pill of 'LIFESTYLE' and allowing my body to heal itself from within will surely become a source of 'INSPIRATION' for everyone who aspires to become healthy around the globe. TBOF products played a huge role in achieving my dream of running 42K at TATA MUMBAI MARATHON!”
When we have the right intention, are passionate about the right goals and work with undeterred determination on achieving it, it is a powerful thing. He did successfully run a full Marathon in January 2020. This was no easy feat. It took him four long years of a disciplined and balanced lifestyle to achieve both his goals – of losing weight and being fit enough to complete a full marathon. He changed his eating habits. Replaced all unhealthy food with nutritious, healthy and clean food and consumed to meet his physical needs and not wants. He shed sweat and tears working out on his body and his mind. He slept on time. He practised positivity and felt true happiness.
We all know that only we have the power to change ourselves for the better and yet we find it easier to come up with excuses. According to Jayanand, ‘Aasaan hai’ to defeat our shortcomings, ‘Aasaan hai’ to make simple lifestyle changes in order to lead a healthy life, ‘Aasaan hai’ to lose 18 kgs in two years, “Aasaan hai’ to be happy and healthy - both physically and mentally. Today, he inspires and encourages many through his social media account and as a motivational speaker.
"My Daughter's Bicycle" - this is where my transformation journey from "Fat to Fit" began in 2016 at age 38 after having been overweight for 20 long years! I lost 14 kgs Body weight in 2016 from 78 kgs to 64 kgs just by 'Coaching' my 7 years old daughter, Angel, while helping her ride her new bicycle. No gym, no surgery, no doctor. no medicine, no product, no supplement, no paid diet program; just will power, nutrition and lifestyle transformation. If you ask me, after all this, I will still say, Aasaan Hai!"
And to you and your never-die attitude, Jayanand, we say, ‘Zhakaas’ !
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