Health, Wealth & Leadership [26 May 2024]
Bowel movements, AI for India, Virat Kohli's Attitude, Time-Restricted Eating, Your 1 Share, and The Top 1%.
Every Sunday I share research, curated insights and thoughts on how to be healthier, make more money and lead with purpose. Here is what I learnt last week:
Do your bowel movements and morning toilet habits change if you are on a vegan versus a meat-rich diet?
Why AI created for India will change the country.
Virat Kohli’s Attitude.
Does early time-restricted eating reduce body weight and preserve fat-free mass in adults?
Why you should own at least 1 share?
You belong to the top 1% of India. Be grateful.
You can access previous editions of my weekly emails here. Let’s begin!
(1) Do your bowel movements and morning toilet habits change if you are on a vegan versus a meat-rich diet?
According to this research study, 65 students went through an 8-week randomized controlled trial to answer that question.
The meat group had a higher intake versus the vegan group of:
- Protein (102 vs 76 grams per day),
- Calcium (653 vs 525 milligrams per day),
- Sodium (2850 vs 2040 milligrams per day),
- Phosphorus (1081 vs 721 milligrams per day), and
- Zinc (9 vs 5 milligrams per day).
The vegan group had a higher intake versus the meat group of:
- Fiber (35 vs 23 grams per day).
The result?
The groups did not differ in terms of gastrointestinal symptoms and defecation habits irrespective of whether they were eating a vegan or meat-rich diet.
(2) Why AI for India will change the country.
India has 1.4 billion people.
47.6% of people in India do not have access to internet.
26% of people are illiterate.
74% that are literate are literate in their mother tongues and not necessarily in English.
10.6% of Indians are proficient in English.
22 different recognized languages are spoken in the country.
If AI is customized for India it can transform the country. Let's dream a little to understand the impact of its possibilities. Imagine that:
1.4 billion people have smartphones, internet access and the ability to talk to their phones to get a response in a language they understand.
The poor ask the AI on their phones what subsidies and loans they are eligible for. The AI responds with precise answers on what money they can get, how and where.
The poor ask the AI on their phones what jobs they should study for? The AI responds with what there is demand for, what courses they should study to get skilled in those jobs, where to apply and how much it would cost.
Small businesses ask AI to help get feedback from customers. The AI analyzes customers responses and provides insights on what needs to be improved in order to grow the business.
Did you know that an India Stack 2.0 is being built by Nandan Nilekani's EkStep Foundation, Sunbird Org, People Plus AI, and others? Everything we just imagined above is possibly going to be the norm in the future. This new normal will allow India to live up to its potential.
(3) Virat Kohli’s Attitude
You may love him or hate him, but you have to admire his mindset.
Virat Kohli's attitude is worth emulating. His approach is very stoic. He:
Works on the controllables,
Gains confidence by performing over and over again, which in turn makes him believe in himself, and
Simply shuts off all outside noise.
Here is what he said when he got asked about how he deals with all the negativity around his abilities.
Virat: "I don't need to react. I know what I can do on the field. I don't need to tell anyone what kind of player I am or what are my abilities. I have never asked anyone how to win a match. I have been in those situations, failed in those situations and learnt from those situations. If you are standing and winning so many matches for your team then it cannot be "by chance". This is why I say that "seeing" and "experiencing" are worlds apart. I don't need anyones approval or assurance. I have only one currency -> performance. No one can make you play for 16 years if you do not perform."
This is a mindset that I try to emulate and you can also use in every aspect of your life. You can also watch this video to hear his response.
(4) Does early time-restricted eating reduce body weight and preserve fat-free mass in adults?
According to this research study of 859 adults, the most effective way for losing fat while preserving fat free mass was to eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours.
TAKEAWAY: If you want to improve your metabolic health while losing body fat, just become disciplined about when you start eating and when you stop eating. The remaining non-eating hours you should not be consuming any calories. Just have water! This is not so hard to do at all!
(5) Why you should own at least 1 share.
Did you know that if you have even 1 share of any company, irrespective of how small that 1 share may be in terms of %, you are still an owner of the business?
That 1 share can be worth a lot.
1 share of Berkshire Hathaways is worth 5 crores.
1 share of MRF Ltd is worth 1.29 lacs.
1 share of YOU INC. is worth how much?
Think like an owner. Own a piece of business. Even if it is only 1 share. If you think like an owner, you will act like an owner, and be an owner.
How much your 1 share will be worth totally depends on how much value you create for others, not yourself.
(6) You belong to the top 1% of India. Be grateful.
I like to describe living in India as living in different islands.
Your home is an island.
Your place of work is an island.
And the places you go to socialize are islands.
You drive from one island to another to live your life. The transit being full of traffic, noise and pollution. You are probably in the top 1% of Indians if you can live this way. It is a privileged life. And because we usually have blinders on, we do not realize how grateful we should be.
Here are shocking numbers I read from Paris based World Inequality Lab about how skewed the income and wealth distribution in India is:
In terms of income estimates, it takes just 2.9 lakhs per year to make it to the top 10% of income earners and 20.7 lakhs to make it to the top 1%.
And in terms of wealth, an adult needs to own 21 lakhs to belong to the wealthiest 10% and 82 lakhs to break into the top 1%.
If you're reading this, the chances are that you belong in the top 1%. That means that you are ahead of 1.4 Billion Indians financially in terms of your income and wealth!
Take your blinders off today and look around. Be grateful no matter what issues you are facing.
Harsh Batra (LinkedIn)
Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
Happy Ratio - The foundation of health is your diet. You should focus on eating nutrient dense meals. But this is not always possible or easy. Happy Ratio is the only quick service restaurant chain that is on a mission to make healthy food the default choice for Indians. We are present in Delhi NCR and turned on Swiggy and Zomato last week for Gurgaon. Try us.
EthosData - If you are running M&A transactions, planning an IPO, or sharing anything confidential online, my team can run your Virtual Data Rooms. Companies like Tata, Reliance and Moody’s trust us.
Marcellus Investment Managers - I am a Marcellus client because their investment philosophy resonates with how I think about investing. My assumption is that Marcellus can generate average returns of 18% per year over the next 10 years. That means 5x your money in a decade. Investing comes with inherent risks so please do your own due diligence before deciding where to put your money. I am also an Independent Financial Advisor with Marcellus.