Archives for February 2015

February 23, 2015 By SNEHA CHIKHALE 3 Comments

Angel Fruit – Papaya and its health benefits

This spherical or pear-shaped fruits was called the “fruit of the angels” by Christopher Columbus because it was very delicious, sweet with musky undertones. This tropical angel fruit is none other than Papaya. Originally from the tropics of America, the Spanish and Portuguese explorers brought papayas to many other subtropical lands to which they journeyed including India, the Philippines, and parts of Africa. Packed with great health benefits, Papaya has been used since quite long for medicinal uses in day to day life.

Every part of a papaya tree, from the fruit to the leaves, contains some medicinal properties and this makes Papaya, a great fruit option to include in your diet.

Health Benefits of Papaya:

1) Lowers cholesterol – Papaya is rich in fiber, Vit C and antioxidants that help prevent cholesterol which builds up in your arteries.

2) Helps in weight loss – Being very low in calories and high in fiber content, leaves you feeling full and also clears your bowl movement, making your weight loss regime easier.

3) Boosts Immunity – A single Papaya contains ample amount of Vit C and Vit A, which helps boosting the body’s immunity and hence is very good for those who are suffering from fever, cold or flu.

4) Good for diabetes – It is low in sugar and still sweet in taste, hence popular amongst diabetic people.

5) Helps ease menstrual pain – Women, who are suffering from menstrual pain, should help themselves to several servings of papaya, as an enzyme called Papain helps in regulating and easing flow during menstrual period.

6) Anti – ageing and Papaya – The antioxidants in Papaya help in controlling premature ageing and helps you to get a younger look.

7) Good for the Skin: Papaya can also be applied directly on the skin and can be used as a face pack to get its benefits. It helps to get rid of acne and skin infections as it helps to open clogged pores. It is also good to cure the skin infections and wounds that don’t heal quickly.
What is interesting about this fruit is that while, it finds its place in fruit salads, Papaya also works as a meat tenderizer and used in non-vegeterian cooking. One should thus consider having Papaya everyday for all the health benefits that it provides.

February 18, 2015 By Parwage Alam 5 Comments

Stay Fit While Traveling

Do you live out of your suit case? Does your job demand that you be travelling atleast 15 days in a month? And is too much of travelling your excuse to skip a workout?

Well if all of the above is true then it should not be so. There can be no excuse to skip workout unless of course you are ill or injured. Otherwise travelling regularly out of the city should not hamper your workouts. I believe that if you are travelling, you have more options to workout and be active. Whether you travel for work or want to see the world, jumping from one hotel room to the next, indulging in breakfast buffets and lounging in front of a TV while you raid the mini fridge are not the best ways to stay fit.

With regards to the Healthy Eating you can go through the following blogs written by my fellow coach Satish Kurapaty :

https://goqii.com/blog/eating-right-even-while-partying/

https://goqii.com/blog/healthy-indian-street-foods/

More often than not excessive travelling does hamper normal routines. For instance if you have been working out in a gym, suddenly you might not have access to any equipment, if you have been running in your neighborhood there could be a situation where you no longer have a familiar path to follow and friends to accompany for a run and if you’re used to a good night’s sleep, suddenly you’re sleeping at odd hours in different time zones.

We are creatures of habit hence we are bound to follow our daily routine as per our habit which we have set for ourself (wake up at a particular time that we have set, eat all meals on time, work out on time and go to sleep at the same time). However, while travelling our whole routing gets hampered. We might not be able to do everything at the said time that you have been following back home.

But, nothing is impossible. Theer is a solution to every problem.

Here are some helpful tips to work out while travelling:

Use the Airport: Airport is a huge area to walk, utilize it and if you have time to board – try to walk as much as possible within the airport premises instead of sitting around and reading a book or listening to music or watching a movie.

Use the Hotel Room: You can work out in your Hotel room. Try to use TABATA as a workout. It will take only 4 min to compensate your GYM session. To get more information on TABATA you can ready the following
Blog: https://goqii.com/blog/just-4-minutes-of-tabata-for-a-healthy-life/

Site Seeing: Go for a walk – try walking EVERYWHERE. In a big city? If it’s nice out walk instead of taking a cab! Go for a jog around your new surroundings…just stay active.

Beach Holidays: If you are planning a beach holiday, you have lots of options to do a workout. You can go for beach running, water sports. Water sports is a healthy sporting option that one can engage in. In water, you are forced to work harder and you are face to face with a wide range of challenges, which can present many more opportunities to boost your fitness regimen. Indeed, there are many water sport health benefits – no matter if you are kayaking, white river rafting, or even swimming.

Too many people take holidays knowing they will get fat, become overweight, and lose a level of their fitness, yet they do nothing to combat it.

So my advise to you would be that whether you have a gym or not, there is always something you can do to stay active. So follow some golden rules and you can enjoy your travelling be it for work or for a holiday without any guilt.

February 12, 2015 By Neha Morche 1 Comment

Aloe Vera- Wonders of the spiky green plant

Cleopatra is known for her beauty and one of the reasons for her immaculate beauty can be credited to the spiky green plant Aloe Vera which she is understood to have used daily in the gel form and was part of her beauty regime. Today, this very fruit plant is used in several personal care products and medicines. Dubbed affectionately as the ‘Plant of immortality’ by the Egyptians 6000 years ago, Aloe Vera has rejuvenating and healing properties. The ancient Greeks used it to cure everything from baldness to insomnia.

Aloe Vera, also known as a Wonder plant has tremendous benefits. No wonder that it is wildly used in cosmetics, herbal remedies and food supplements.

If you have observed the leaf of Aloe Vera closely there are yellow (latex) found just under the skin and white color gel found inside the leaf. Both of these have medicinal properties. It is rich in calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, manganese, folic acid, amino acid and Vitamin A,C,E,B1,B2,B6.

Benefits :

Aloe Vera’s white gel has enzymes, fiber, amino acids which helps in digestion and digestive disorders like colitis and irritable bowel syndrome.
It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties to help boost the immunity of the system, helps maintain oral hygiene.
It has laxative properties to relieve constipation.
It is anti-inflammatory and helps to reduce the inflammation of Rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an auto-immune disease which affects the entire body. The immune system attacks the body tissues, especially, the membranes lining the joint.
Aloe Vera juice is used for lowering sugar levels. But, Consult your doctor before consuming Aloe Vera juice
It has anti-carcinogenic properties to fight against the cancer.
It is rich in magnesium lactate which works very well for chest congestion.
Vitamin C present in it is the best natural source to fight against the cold ad cough.

Aloe Vera for the Skin :

It is suitable for all skin types.
Aloe Vera in the gel form has great soothing effect and therefore when applied on the irritable area of the skin, it reduces skin irritation.
Its anti-microbial property helps in curing acne, pimples and lightening of the skin.

Aloe Vera for the Hair:

It has Proteolitic enzymes which helps in removing dead skin from the scalp and removes the excess sebum to promote hair growth.
Because of its alkaline properties it maintains the pH of the scalp to keep hair moisturized.
Its anti -fungal property helps in reducing the dandruff.
To keep our hair more soft and smooth we can add Aloe Vera gel to our regular conditioner and use it daily.

But, here is a word of Caution:

Aloe Vera is power packed with loads of nutrients to treat our body in the most natural way, however, in certain treatments it may cause adverse effects if not taken under supervision like excess amount may cause diarrhea and may lower blood sugar which leads to loss of potassium from the body. It may inhibit some drug reaction internally and may cause allergic reaction on the skin.

February 9, 2015 By Amrozia Sayyed 4 Comments

Preparing the body for pregnancy

Every couple desires to have a baby someday and all of them wish that from pregnancy to child-birth all goes well. Planning well is the key. Like as the saying goes-“The most important step of all is the first step” And therefore why not start the very first that is conception be on a healthy note!

Why do we only focus on women when she is pregnant why not when she is preparing to get pregnant. So that her pregnancy is smooth.

Here are the five importants things that should be looked upon to start with a healthy pregnancy and getting ready for a beautiful change in your life….

1 2 3…I wanna be fat free:

Before pregnancy, it is important to have a body weight close to your ideal body weight. During pregnancy on an average women gain 10-12 kg of weight which is required. While you are pregnant no doctor or health care professional will ask you to diet or follow a fat loss programme or low carb diet, etc. So better to start the best moments of your life with the best body.

Low body weight of women at reproductive age is mainly because of under supply of nutrients such as Vitamin A, E, C, Zinc seleniun, iron and folic acid, essential fatty acid etc which play an important role in fertility.

In overweight and obese women there is high fat storage which leads to hormonal imbalance one of the common reasons for infertility. Fat cell release estrogen (hormone) which delays ovulation and disturbs menstrual cycle and act as a natural birth control. Other condition associated with obese women and pregnancy is gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia.

But, ladies all these can be managed with simplest remedy that is exercise and eating right…

So wanna be mummy get into those sports gear and start with your exercise…Your baby would love to see a healthy mom at his/her first glance.

Tip: Better to start with pregnancy with a healthy weight to give birth to a healthy baby and minimize the health risk too. Try to exercise at-least 3 days in a week.

Most wanted- Folic acid and iron:

Folic acid supplements before pregnancy is must. The neural tube formation that is crucial for brain development happens in the first four weeks of pregnancy. This is the stage where in most mothers are unaware that they are pregnant especially when it is an unplanned pregnancy. Hence, it is very much important for all women of reproductive age to replinish their folic acid daily.

To lower down the risk of neural tube defects one must take folic acid for at least three months before pregnancy and continue during pregnancy. Also along with supplements include food that are high in folate every day such as dark green leafy vegetable, beans, lentils, oranges etc.

Likewise iron is very much important to support the healthy development of the foetus. Due to increase blood volume during pregnancy it also increases the demand for iron in our body due to growing foetus. The better iron stores before pregnancy the better absorption of iron during pregnancy. Iron rich food includes whole grains, beans, red meat (but has saturated fats too), eggs and poultry etc.

Small tip: Better to have iron rich food with a Vitamin C source such as lemon water or amla which will aid in iron absorption. Also avoid caffeinated beverages.

Healthy omegas:

We live in a world where we are constantly surrounded by options in food which are fat rich junk and sugar filled caloric meals. Both ultimately contributes to fat storage in our body. Food such as meat, dairy products and many other processed food available in the market are high in saturated fat. It’s our choice or selection to get the good fat in our diet. Fatty acids rich in oily fish, nuts and oilseed are rich in essential fat that is omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. These essential fats are required for proper functioning of hormones in the body. And a slight disturbance in hormones has a great impact which in turn will affect the menstrual cycle causing infertility. It is always good to opt for lean fat which is present in white meat rather than red meat which is again high in saturated fat. The processed meat is even worse because it comes with combination of high sodium contents along with preservative.

Tip: Make a mixture of sunflower seeds, flax seeds, almonds, pumpkin seed and sesame seeds and use it a our garnish for sprinkling over the salads. It has good amount of essential fat.

Get that dose of Antioxidants daily:

Antioxidant act like a defense system in our body to de-activate the free radical species and hence preventbody from damaging. These antioxidant protects the reproductive organs (ovum, eggs, etc) of a woman from damage by these radicals and ensure their normal functioning. The DNA is also protected from antioxidant which forms as a base to the child’s development.

Make sure the mother preparing for pregnancy makes a special note to count antioxidant rich food in their diet such as fresh colourful fruits and vegetables, nuts, etc

Keep away from stress :

It is the most important aspect which is mostly overlooked . High stress level can affect fertility too. Women who have delayed ovulation have high cortisol level which is a reason for infertility. Brain sends signals via hypothalamus to release hormones which will trigger ovulation. In women with high stress levels these signals are altered and thereby disturbed menstrual cycle and fertility.

Tip: At-least devote 5 min of your day to meditation, indulge in your hobbies, best to de-stress. Also first thing in the morning is to thinks how will you tackle your day, get a plan and then get in to action.