“Hi, did you taste that new Zinger meal at KFC? It’s awesome! Well it doesn’t have as much cheese as you would get in the Chicken Cheese Italiano Pizza in Pizza Hut, but it tastes good. Also try the Chocolate pastry at Biscotti if you ever get a chance.” This is pretty much what one would hear if he gets to ask an IT professional about some good food in the city. Yes, they have the money. They have the cool geek status. They don't bother to spend thousands for the style. They surround themselves with all sorts of gadgets (including me!). And last but not the least, they never compromise on eating to focus on their health. In fact, an average IT professional spends anything between 5-10% of his or her salary on food.

It has appeared that IT people start eating out more than before after they get accustomed to their professional life. And this junk food and delicacies outdoors adds half an inch to their waistline every year. Yes, you read right, half an inch. (If you doubt, look around you and multiply the experience of your colleagues in years by 1/2 inch and try to guess and compare with their waist size.

Well, the common symptoms of deteriorating health are all too common.  You can’t wake up with full vigor and energy in the morning. You always feel you need more sleep. You feel a stiffness in your neck and back, specially in your waist. You find it difficult falling asleep. You put on weight a lot faster than you expect. Well, sitting in cushioned chair all day long might well seem like a boon from outside. And to an extent even true. (Lucky us who don’t have to get drenched in the rains during monsoon or burn under the sun during summer 😉 But that comes for a steep price. Our Health. It’s up to us now how we take measures to protect what we have been gifted with. All it takes is a little consideration from our side and it will yield us gold. Not a single one of us would say we don’t like fast food. All of us do. So how come some people stay slim, hot and sexy around us and some age so fast!

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It’s partly in the health genes which is beyond your control and normally forms 50% of the decisive factor of a person’s figure. But we have the rest 50% of the factors in our control. And that’s pretty huge. Let’s start with food. We can never stop having non-veg. But that doesn’t mean we can’t stop eating cheese and can’t opt for chicken pizzas with less cheese in them! We can’t stop having chicken biriyani, but that doesn’t mean we can’t reduce our frequency of having it. The same applies for cold drinks too. It would be a sin if you tell me to stop having cold stuffs. But as you see, it’s still in our control without much controlling ourselves! And this would also allow you to freely eat during office parties and hangouts with your girlfriend(s!).

Now coming to better food habits. If you feel you can control yourself pretty well, then there's nothing like it. But if you cannot, don’t go for mad dieting like a lot of my colleagues who just have fruit salad for lunch and a biscuit for snacks in the evening and keep on complaining about headaches and fatigues when many people are bubbling with energy! With a little conscious effort you can bring down your calorie intake. Not taking milk products and food stuffs with visible oil in them goes a long, long way in bringing down that extra inches.

Surely none of would like it if we get into an unwanted shape in the middle of our life! So it will always pay if you can get some time out of your busy schedule to do some physical activity. And by that it does not always mean to hit the gym. Use the stairs instead of the lift. If your place is within 6 storeys, you can always use the stairs. Might not be daily, but 2-3 times a week would be pretty decent.

As lucrative the job might be seen, it will not be so if medical expenses rise 10-15 years after regular work. So as they say, ‘prevention is better than cure’, it works like a divine phrase in the IT sector with people sitting 24x7 without even turning their head. Only things that moves are the fingers.

The IT sector will continue to be like this forever. So it is up to us how we face the challenges and  act. Do we succumb to it or do we get over it and do the needful to get the life we want, a healthy life to enjoy life to the maximum with our dear ones!