Military Wellness and Nutrition: Ryan Fernando at the Sapta Shakti Command Seminar, Bathinda

Your body is the most expensive real estate you will ever own.

That’s something I say very often.

But last Monday, while speaking at the Augmented Wellness Seminar conducted by the Sapta Shakti Command in Bathinda, I approached that idea a little differently for the soldiers sitting in front of me.

I told them:

"Your body is the most powerful asset you will ever own."

When we think about military strength, we usually think about endurance, discipline, resilience, weapons, operations, and training. But very rarely do we think about the biology carrying all of that every single day.

Because behind every operation, every mission, every physically demanding situation, there is still a human body handling pressure in real time.

And that was really the direction of the entire seminar. The two-day Augmented Wellness Seminar conducted by the Sapta Shakti Command brought together over 2,500 officers, soldiers, and their families for sessions focused on wellness, resilience, operational readiness, recovery, and human performance. 

It was truly an honour to share the stage alongside such distinguished speakers and leaders, including Lieutenant General Shamsher Singh Virk (S. S. Virk), Army Commander, Sapta Shakti Command, Lieutenant General Narendra Kotwal (Retd), Lieutenant General DP Pandey (Retd), Col Gopal Karunakaran (Retd) and Dr Seema Rao. 

As a nutritionist, being invited by the Sapta Shakti Command to speak on military wellness and nutrition was a deeply humbling experience for me. I'm Ryan Fernando, and this is one visit that will stay with me for a long time.

The level of discipline, punctuality, physical readiness, structure, and mutual respect was genuinely inspiring to witness firsthand. And I think that changes your understanding of health completely. Because in environments like these, the body cannot afford inconsistency for too long.

• Poor recovery eventually affects endurance.

• Poor hydration affects cognition.

• Poor sleep affects reaction time.

• Low muscle mass affects resilience.

• And long-term neglect eventually affects performance.

One thing I spoke about during the session was how the human body is constantly rebuilding itself, even while we are sitting still. Cells regenerate. Blood renews. Tissues repair. Muscles adapt. The body continuously responds to the environment we create for it every single day.

And the quality of that recovery depends heavily on what we repeatedly expose the body to. Because the body adapts both ways. It adapts to discipline. And it adapts to neglect, too. That is exactly why sleep, hydration, nutrition, body physiology, and recovery are not “extra lifestyle topics.” They are performance variables.

Then there was also something incredibly grounding about the environment itself. Towards the evening, during sunset, the atmosphere around the military station felt calm, disciplined, powerful, and peaceful all at the same time. It is difficult to explain unless you experience it firsthand. And as someone who values discipline and structure in life myself, witnessing how systematically everything functions within the Army environment was deeply inspiring. From the routines to the coordination, from physical preparedness to mindset, there was a sense of consistency and responsibility in everything.

It was truly a privilege to interact with such disciplined and dedicated individuals serving our country every single day and I personally spent some time officers, soldiers, and families during and after the visit, shared conversations, atetogether, and witnessed their experiences more closely. And that made the entire visit even more memorable for me.

I’m sincerely grateful to the Sapta Shakti Command for inviting me to be part of such a meaningful initiative. Because beyond nutrition, beyond performance, and beyond wellness itself, the experience reminded me of something very simple: Human performance is not built during high-pressure moments. It is built quietly through what the body is repeatedly given every single day.

And before leaving, there was one line from the session that I know I mentioned 

"Mission readiness starts inside the human body."

Not only at the border. Not only in strategy rooms. Not only on the battlefield.

Everything starts inside the human body first, and then it reflects everywhere else.

So take care of yourself. Protect your health. Build your body well.

Because your body is still the most powerful and original asset you will ever own!

JAI HIND