As health is wealth, one needs to be fit and healthy. Along with eating a balanced diet, one needs to adopt a healthy exercise regime. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to either do yoga or join gym or dance classes Being or remaining healthy is not an option, but a must for the well being of an individual and the society at large. I’m a big fan of Bollywood star Arjun Rampal. Being a fitness freak, I have tried gym, aerobics and dance over the past five years. My experience is that exercise of any form helps one to remain healthy and thus, happy. However, besides shedding some extra flab through physical workout, one must also invest some time on mental well being. Some of the things one can do for this is to spend some time every day with children below five years of age, share jokes, hold no grudges and be fair in one’s dealings. This goes a long way in ensuring one’s fitness and longevity. — Ram Prasad Sharma, Kathmandu Choose yoga as my fitness regime. Yoga does not only help you achieve a great physique but also helps you to maintain sound mental balance giving you proper relaxation. Moreover yoga is that discipline which helps you to get rid of almost all types of problems related to a person by doing homework of some specific postures. Personally yoga helped me gain a good physique and mental balance. Whenever my (student) mind gets anxious due to the never-ending formulae and exams, yoga helps me to relax my mind and concentrate properly. Also, I believe that yoga constitutes almost all disciplines of fitness that make you fit, whether it be dance, kick-boxing or gym. In other words we can consider yoga as an overall package to achieve proper muscles and physique. — Abiral Bhattarai, Pokhara   My fitness regime would be hitting a gym. To be more specific, weightlifting workout is perfect! Staying fit helps us to improve our overall health, be it physical or mental. It boosts our energy. You can feel the difference after a session of exercise. I am into fitness because it has always been beneficial to me as it has helped me build my confidence. Staying fit means to maintain one’s look. The more you indulge in healthy habits and fitness, the more you improve your overall looks. In a similar manner, workout has helped me groom myself which has eventually groomed my personality! Among all the regimes, I urge one to choose weightlifting because it not only helps us lose weight but it helps to tone and sharpen our body. As a matter of fact, effects of weightlifting continues with muscle metabolism long after the workout has been completed. — Nishma Pokharel   Health is the greatest wealth. If health is lost, everything is lost. Therefore, I am much more conscious to live a healthy and fit life. Nowadays, I am practising yoga and meditation for mental alertness, physical exercise, and morning walk for physical fitness. Prevention is better than cure, so I always apply preventive measures to be safe from diseases. For that I consume a nutritious and balanced diet and visit doctors for regular health check-up. I also often go cycling in the morning because keeping balance in all aspects of health is a must to be healthy and fit. — Kamal Aryal, Pokhara   Physical exercise is an important weapon for a healthy life. We can use various means of exercises like yoga, walking and dance, et cetera. But such exercises should be performed regularly. So regular exercises like morning walk provide us effective fitness for our health and a healthy life. The government has taken an important step by launching a new health campaign to promote healthy living and I have become part of it — I go on regular morning walks. As a result I have become healthy and fit. Along with the regular morning walks, I am committed to hydrotherapy, and consuming healthy food like green vegetables, fibre-rich food, seasonal and other fruits. And I don’t use tobacco products or drink often or consume junk and fast food. These steps have resulted in better physical and mental health in me as well as good social health. Therefore any kind of physical exercise can be performed for healthy living and fitness and it should be practised regularly. I care for my health and so I exercise regularly, everyone should do too for your healthy and fit life. — Ganga Raj Aryal, Panini-8, Pali, Arghakhanchi   Being fit means being healthy. It does not matter whether you do it on your own or follow others. I believe that doing something amusing that gives your body physical training is fruitful as long as it makes you happy and healthy. Doing the things you love will definitely result in a healthy life. I love to dance and if I start my morning with some zumba or dance workouts, I feel active and fresh the whole day. Also it helps me to  be fit, physically and mentally. So, you should not take exercise as a part of your routine. Just do it as you do your regular work like brushing teeth. — Rashmi Karki, Balaju   For me being healthy and fit are two different things. Being a teenager we all dream of ‘zero’ figure. I wanted to achieve it a year ago and I tried all my best to achieve it. But unfortunately I couldn’t. I tried many forms of exercises — yoga, aerobics, robotic and zumba — but I couldn’t follow them longer than two months. I lost my hopes and soon enough I shoved the whole idea. Nowadays I am trying to be fit, but not in that sense of gaining muscles, but in a healthy way. I exercise daily for half an hour. And sometimes I follow celebrities like Shilpa Shetty to draw some inspiration. And in order to be healthy, being active is very important. — Sashi Lama   I am conscious of my health in order to be a healthy and fit person. For this I have adopted a few steps. I do 10 rounds of Surya Namaskar. After this exercise, I don’t feel lazy rather I feel full of energy. This energy remains with me throughout the day and I feel happy. And I don’t take it as a burden; I do this exercise willingly. Yoga gives flexibility to my body and keeps my sense organs active. For the one who has short height, yoga helps to increase your height. It also helps in weight loss and to obtain power. So, one should not take such exercises as a burden but an opportunity to lead a healthy life. With such importance aspects, I motivate people to perform yoga to live a healthy and happy life. — Tulip Gyawali, Minbhawan, Kathmandu   Any form of exercise is necessary as we are living a busy life. We wish to get fit but we don’t have the time to indulge in activities that really help to maintain our physique and health. Most of all we become lazy and avoid such workouts or opportunities to maintain our fitness. For me, zumba is the best way to be fit and pour some sweat out. It is the most fun one-hour that I have spent as I maintain my body while learning some dance steps. — Saugat   I think it is nice to do exercise every morning because if we do we will be healthy and be fit. Every day I wake up and jog and perform exercises in the morning. This routine makes me feel fresh all day. If possible it is good to go for an evening walk and I do that every Saturday, as I have homework to do on weekdays. If you exercise every day it will be easier for you to swim, play basketball and do other sports. We can also go to gym and lift weights to develop strong and healthy bodies. — Mini Tamang   Fitness and staying healthy is a must and it should be a daily regime of everyone’s daily fast-paced life. This is easy to say and difficult to follow. But it is not impossible. To do so there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly one should be honest and dedicate oneself to following the rules and regulations you have set on eating habits, doing exercise, and other regimes to lead a healthy life. Secondly, it is very important to maintain time and schedule to follow those rules and regulations. Gym, yoga whatever you choose to do on daily or alternate basis, at least thrice a week is a must. Thirdly, you should strictly quit the food and drinks that are not good for your health and your appetite. Fourthly, you should realise and acknowledge the truth: ‘health is wealth’. So if you want to achieve success in your career, you should stay healthy and fit. Lastly, try not to imitate others but gain knowledge about staying healthy and fit through reading, studying and advice. So, it is not necessary to stretch muscles and build physique that is in trend to stay healthy but to do simple things. — Prabin Raj Shrestha, Satdobato   We need to be fit and healthy. We can do so by joining a gym, or doing zumba. But that is not enough. You need to take a balanced diet and avoid eating too much of meat and pizza. I am fit now. But if I were to be unfit in future, I think I would join a gym or have green tea. Since prevention is better than cure I make sure to have a balanced diet to prevent myself from becoming unhealthy. — Salina Humagain   Health is wealth is not just a figurative speech; but an enormously valuable lesson for our lives across the globe. Unless we are sick or are diagnosed with serious life threatening health conditions, we do not take precautions to live a healthy life style and this is deeply rooted in our culture. We have to take responsibility for this. Hence, exercising regularly according to an individual’s body type, physical stamina and health needs are important and cannot be compromised with any excuse(s). However, how far to follow the celebrities for healthy lifestyle is a highly debatable issue. Their great body shapes (like Greek gods and goddesses) are true outcomes of years  of serious and strenuous physical exercising and disciplined lifestyle but I have serious doubts about this. Many of these great bodies could be actually impacts of carefully hidden, medically supervised, regular intakes of expensive steroid tablets and/or injections or expensive cosmetic surgeries in private western hospitals. Celebrities are great; but not always the best icons to follow in every act of life. Our emotionally overcharged youth should follow them with serious cautions with respect to healthy lifestyles; else they may actually do harm to their bodies instead of building it. — Saikat Kumar Basu   People today are spending their time in the gyms, dance classes, yoga classes and what not for fitness. But, I believe if you want to be fit, you don’t need all these. I am lazy to work out but if I feel I’m getting fat and unhealthy I would rather put on music, take a broomstick or mop and start cleaning the house or take a jar of water upstairs. Or I play music loudly and dance my heart out. If I feel I’m getting bored at home, I’d rather go out for walk with my brother. Not only these things help me stay fit, but also save money, and most importantly keep my house clean. So why bother to go to the gym in your hectic routine? But for those who really want to build their body or learn dance because they want to, well good for them. — Barsha Prajapati   I always exercise because it keeps me fit and fine. But I don’t go to gym, or do zumba because I want to save my money to buy a guitar. Rather I watch Ramdev’s yoga tutorial on YouTube and follow what he tells us to do. The session makes me happy and fresh. — Jenny   To be healthy it doesn’t mean that we have to join a gym or opt for yoga or dance or follow celebrities. I believe you could do a regular walk every morning, or travel to your office and back on foot if the distance is less, or ride a bicycle. Or you could just take the stairs of your office to keep you physically and mentally healthy. — Bibas Jung Thapa, Hetauda   Being healthy and fit is as important as being educated in this time and situation.  When someone hits the gym, others go for dance classes and some opt for yoga or some follow some celebrities, I’d rather follow my own routine and regime to stay healthy and fit. Also, I don’t believe in the fact that hitting a gym and doing heavy workouts or yoga and so on are only the proper definition of being healthy and fit in life. In my opinion the daily activities in which we are involved and indulge ourselves are also part of being healthy and fit in life. So there are some specific things which I follow on a daily basis to remain healthy which includes drinking water on an empty stomach after waking up in the morning, taking some nuts like raisins and cashew nuts before breakfast. Eating less junk food and avoiding fast food are also the thing I keep in mind, and as walking is good for health, I usually prefer walking. If I have to go somewhere within the distance between five-kilometres, I walk as I believe that’s a good way to burn calories and stay fresh in life. Likewise I also feel that doing exercise only is not enough to remain healthy and fit. Taking care of your diet and eating habits are equally important. Giving too much pressure to our body is also not a good idea and that’s not the ideal way to be fit and healthy in life. So eat well, exercise and remain healthy and fit in life is the mantra of my life. — Tejaswi Pahari, Jawalakhel   Kick-boxing is a better way to maintain our fitness. We get to learn different martial arts which help to defend ourselves when needed. Plus it maintains our physical strength and in development of muscles. It helps us to increase our stamina and strength which is necessary for fitness. Though it is costly, it help us to maintain our fitness. — Kritan Gurung   To remain healthy, I have been doing yoga for more than a week without breaking the routine — I used to go to gym a couple of years back but it led to pain in my back. Now I have decided to devote more time to yoga. Besides doing yoga, I have been going for short evening walks. Also I will adopt some other physical exercises which are naturally good for our health. Also, I’m being careful about eating right and sleeping well because, health is wealth. And to remain healthy, I don’t think I need to follow anyone in this world. — Pratik Shrestha, Buddhanagar, Baneshwore With food becoming more of a luxury than a necessity, we are consuming different kinds of stuff that are not quite good for us. On top of that, due to the overflowing varieties of food around us, we tend to consume more and more. And with obesity soaring like never before, people sometimes get too obsessed with maintaining the stereotypical figure. Most ladies dream of having a zero figure and gentlemen want strong muscles. But obviously, having the slimmest waist possible or six packs doesn’t necessarily make us healthy though it does encourage us to cut off some bad calories and do some exercise. But performing any form of exercise that we benefit from is paying respect to our bodies. And in my quest for becoming healthier and more fit, I meditate, dance, do yoga, run, eat a lot of veggies and fruits and some days go for hikes. Although, there are some lazy days when I skip exercise, I would prefer to call it my resting days. — Sudesha Rimal, Koteshwore   Fitness is an essential part of our life. Staying fit to the extent that keeps us healthy is a useful thing. On the other hand, fitness focused on or done to become like other celebrities is not what I opt for. Personally, I enjoy living a healthy and fit life rather than being lazy and inactive. We have a greater psychological support from our body fitness as well. On the contrary, I do not prefer going to gym and performing exercises to build muscles. These things in my view make us fit only from outside whereas I believe fitness is a factor important within oneself. Actually the trend of going to the gym and following other specific exercises were started by a bunch of lazy people who do not have interest in daily activities. People of ancient times didn’t have gyms and other specific exercises, yet they were healthy. Working and doing things ourselves fulfil many fitness requirements of our life that gyms and kick-boxing cannot. Thus I prefer indulging in fitness activities by myself rather than going to hard core gyms and practice on that field. — Asmit Bhattarai, Hattigauda, Kathmandu QUESTION OF THE WEEK The SEE results are out. Students will focus on joining one the three major streams — Science, Management or Humanities. However, there are also many diploma courses on offer that help one develop skills in different fields. But not many people opt for such diploma courses due to many reasons. However, if you were free —  truly free — to choose the kind of education/skills you desired, what would you choose — an academic degree or an applied degree? Why? ­Send your replies in not more than 200 words by Friday, June 23, 2:00 pm to Features, The Himalayan Times, e-mail: features@thehimalayantimes.com