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Twelve years back from now, a young PhD scholar arrived in the city and decided to set up an innovative slimming and fitness centre. Armed with a resolute desire to make things happen and create awareness about fighting obesity in a manner that certainly did not involve crash dieting programmes was a somewhat new and challenging idea. The lady, a 24 year-old gold medalist in Alternative Medicine from the Colombo University, with the magic wand was Dr Sarwat Azeem of the Fitness and Herbs fame. Today Azeem has proved her mantle in the field of fitness as a renowned consultant and guide for thousands of people in the country as well as in the UAE.
Today, Fitness and Herbs stand as a pioneer in establishing a health conscious and a very safe method of weight reduction for thousands. “We, at Fitness and Herbs are very responsible and concerned with the health of our clients. Thus we do not talk of slimming. Rather our main focus is on fitness that should come along with weight reduction,” says Dr Sarwat.
 
 
 
 
A general problem that arises after people lose weight drastically is that they gain back as fast as they have lost it. Skin problems, malnutrition, electrolyte imbalance are other serious problems faced by these people. Here is where Dr Sarwat Azeem takes a strong resolution to save obese people from the clutches of fraud slimming centre owners. “In a week’s time, we, at the Fitness and Herbs Centre bring about an electrolyte balance in the bodies of our clients by giving the Herbal Water,” says Azeem. After a thorough research and number of tests conducted on this liquid, Azeem is confident that this has no side effects and helps balance the electrolyte imbalance in the clients. The secondary benefit of the Herbal Water includes a fresh and glowing skin, something that we in this part of the world just adore. The methodology of Dr Sarwat is to tell people to eat a healthy and balanced diet. “Since it is very difficult to let go of your dietary habits, we do not completely restrict people to eat this and that, rather we devise nutrition plans according to each individual’s need. Age group and weight reduction level is also taken into account while planning diets,” says Azeem, who personally does the consultancy work at the centre.
Seeing Azeem studying late into the night, her father could not stop her from pursuing a degree abroad. And when she came back armed with a doctorate, she was very keen to do something about the problem of obesity in the country. After a few stints as a Visiting Consultant at various hospitals, she set up her own little business which has flourished into a one-of-a-kind centre. Azeem now believes that media has given a lot of attention to obesity and helps obese people by proving information, diet plans, exercise programmes and even menus for obese people. This, she finds, to be a revolution of its own kind. She feels happy to help people who come to her. “These are people with multiple problems related to obesity and I find it very satisfying to help them,” she says.
On the way, Azeem has also worked on herself to be the person that she is today. Confident, vocal and very business oriented, yet fulfilling her responsibility as a wife and mother, she finds herself quite settled in life. She has taken numerous personal development courses including neuron-linguistic programming course and stress management training. On the path to self-improvement, she has also single-handedly overcome a personal phobia of driving. However, on the professional front, as a woman she feels that, “It is a bit difficult to work in the country”. The human experience has also not been very happy one. “I have always trusted people to a great extent and that has messed up things a lot. My co-partner, with whom I started the project, disappointed me and broke the trust between us and set up his own centre,” says Azeem. This has led to a general feeling in her to not to place her trust in people too much now. However, life has its ups and downs and she finds that she has been rewarded with success by the Almighty Allah for her sincere efforts and consistent hard work.