Preeti Tyagi is the founder and CEO of My22BMI, a digital platform for diet and nutrition planning. In an interaction with Guardian 20, she explains her success story and also what all it takes to have a happy and healthy living.
Q. How did the My22BMI story unfold?
A. The idea behind calling my company My22BMI was body, weight and mass index. So, it’s basically the ratio of height, weight, sex and age. It’s all about keeping away common, modern lifestyle diseases. I have always been particular about being healthy and eating properly. But the turning point for me was some hormonal imbalances after childbirth. And I was not able to get to my ideal BMI. I enrolled in the Institute of Integrated Nutrition. I wanted to take nutrition and its benefits to the next level. The course helped me understand the health track, enabling me to understand each individual’s body type and requirements. Half way through the course, I felt healed and through my own healing process I was able to help family and friends all around me.
Q. Tell us more about My22BMI.
A. My22BMI came into existence in 2017. Since then we have been lucky to have more than 1,200 success stories. For more often than not, it’s a challenge to follow it, stick to it. And stay motivated as well. We work towards incorporating diet plans that are easy and practical to implement. As this is digital, we have our website, www.my22bmi.com, where we offer free consultation. We have thousands of people click on it. Currently, we have offices in Brunei and Gurgaon. Work is in progress in Singapore and Malaysia.
Q. Today in all relevant pertinent health journals, the gut is being touted as the most important and consequential requirement for good health. Please share with us some important gut-related facts.
A. There are 500 to 2,000 species of micro-organism. About 60-80% of the immune system is located in the gut. And, more than 40 diseases, including depression, arthritis, IBS and cancer, are linked to bacteria imbalances.
Q. Immunity and immune-related issues are skyrocketing globally. Please share with us some relevant and important health guidelines.
A. To defend and protect our bodies from external viruses at large, Vitamin C must be incorporated into our daily diet. Also, a combination of Vitamin D and Vitamin Zinc should be added to the list. The beneficial combination keeps you protected. Vitamin C is pre-dominant in many citrus fruits and certain raw vegetable. For Vitamin D, one must get sunlight in the early morning. Zinc is a natural source in foods like nuts, seeds and bananas. With the current health scenario unravelling, I encourage my clients to combine supplements with natural sources as well.
Q. What’s your advice for maintaining an overall robust health, both mental and physical?
A. What is required at present is to stay calm and collected. Incorporate a healthy diet which promotes mental health and well-being. For a person, an unhealthy gut will result in stress and anxiety, mood swings, depression and zero motivation to do anything. As tough as it may sound in the current scenario, it is of paramount importance to adopt a balanced and healthy lifestyle, regular activity and exercise. Interact with your loved ones, do call them up and connect. Do activities that make you happy. And most importantly, do honour your emotional needs.