Chirag Barjatya is a certified Nutrition Coach, a cinematographer, an editor, and a blogger. He is a proud cat dad and doesn’t shy away from posting cat videos on his social media.
Interview
Questions and answers
We were wondering if we could start by you telling us about the first time you realized that fitness was your "jam"?
It started because of a few self-image issues I got in my high school days because of bullying. The gym and my overall fitness lifestyle made me overcome that, and then I thought of helping others to overcome the same and hence became a certified nutrition coach.
Can you tell us what made you want to have your podcast?
I commute in traffic daily for 2-3 hours. FM was repetitive and boring; I tried listening to the podcast and found a few like Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Gary Vaynerchuk’s interesting. This made me start my own thing so that people can gain some knowledge while they are in traffic or walking their pets.
You already have your podcast to voice your opinion or put yourself out there. What made you venture into writing blogs? We read some on your website- which were beautiful, by the way.
Thanks for reading my work. I am very much active on twitter as well but the character limit is just 280, and people mostly avoid long threads. Hence, I started my blog where I can jot down my opinion and thought process in a longer form.
Talk to us about food, what role does it play in our day to day life, the types of nutrients that build and break us.
Food is the primary source of energy that keeps us alive. Without optimal food and nutrition intake, one can feel fatigued, may lose hair, may get breakouts on the skin, and obviously may look lethargic and out of shape. For me, Protein is the topmost nutrient in my day to day life, and then comes Fats because they both are essentials. I love carbs as well, but under my calorie intake. A proper mix and match of these three macronutrients with green veggies and water intake is a way to go.
Can you tell us about when one should undergo a Keto Diet, and why is it essential, if it is?
I don’t believe in Keto at all, nor I recommend it to my clients and followers. Why? Because a keto diet is not sustainable for 99% of people out there. Can you forever live without carbs? Of course not! You can lose fat with any calorie deficit diet and there is no point going on Keto until and unless you have to be’photoshoot’ ready within 4-6 weeks, but that’s a crash diet and once it ends you blow up like a balloon again.
One of the most beautiful blogs by you for us was the blogs in "Positive Masculinity." We were just wondering what motivated you to write or explore such a sensitive (for some) topic?
Oh, thank you for reading one of my favorite topics. So, the reason behind writing it was, there are some famous terms over the internet called ‘soy boys’ and ‘beta males.’ They are being made fun of all the time. My motivation behind writing on Positive Masculinity is to help and understand those beta males to overcome their issues, which are buried deep within themselves due to social conditioning since their childhood. Many people got help from my article, and it was an awakening for them. In short, I don’t like it when some people make fun of other people over the internet without understanding their background and deep-rooted issues.
Can you tell us the importance of a Healthy Lifestyle?
A healthy lifestyle is important because of one simple reason – A healthy person will not fall sick very often; even in the corona case, healthy individuals are fighting the virus very well. And when you don’t fall ill, often you indirectly keep your family happy, your parents out of stress and you save lots of money. A personal example, I don’t even remember when was the last time I got random fever. It boosts up my confidence, and I am always standing for others because, well, there are no excuses like I got a headache or fever today: A healthy lifestyle = A responsible lifestyle.
How many days, according to you, should one hit the gym or exercise or maintain a diet?
Even three days are fine. But you should be active throughout the week. Here active means, at least, walk 6-8k steps every day. Just keep moving around; do not sit at one place for the entire day. We present human beings as the offsprings of Early Men, our DNA is of hunters; use it that way. I also don’t believe in going off diet for two months and then going on diet again. This cycle of dieting is a terrible habit.
Just one cliched question- what's your favorite unhealthy dish?
Do we call Pani-Puri unhealthy?
Can you talk to us about building a personal brand for oneself in today's barging social media?
Take the present example, because of CoronaVirus, there are millions of jobs getting canceled overnight. Few people I personally know lost their jobs in IT, someone lost their sales job and many more such examples and now they are confused as hell about what to do next. They are in a panic because they don’t have even an iota of a personal brand over social media. No one knows them, no one cares what they do, and hence they are not able to sell off their services to anyone. This is why a personal brand is important. Also, more importantly, a good sustainable personal brand gives you the liberty to work from anywhere around the world, to spend more time with your family, kids, and pets. These are just perks. If you are reading this, please make an account on Twitter, Instagram, and start posting content and start helping people. It is not late.
What inspires you in general, in life?
I am very neutral, and I don’t need motivation or inspiration to keep going. I think this is what keeps me going—happy, healthy, and fit faces around me.