Archives for May 2016

May 27, 2016 By Sophia Lashkari Leave a Comment

Diabetes and Okra- The Super Food

Locally okra is known as bhindi (Hindi) or ladies finger. I am sure; besides the recipes with Okra, you would have also heard that this veggie is good to control blood sugar. So is it scientifically true?? Let us explore that.

It’s in the seeds of Okra. In Turkey, roasted Okra seeds have been used as a traditional medicine. It’s these seeds that have shown results in lowering blood sugar levels in studies done. Also it’s shown to prevent diabetic associated complications as it lowers HbA1c levels.

So how do these seeds help?? These seeds are alpha- glucosidase in nature and gum contains insoluble fiber. They inhibit the carbohydrate metabolizing enzyme; hence prevent release of sugar in blood stream.

How are these to be taken?? You need to split the Okra in two and soak it in water overnight. Next morning squeeze the gum (the mucilage in water) and seeds into water and drink this water on empty stomach early morning every day. You got to take it this way because the researches done support intake in this form, it isn’t clear if the cooked form too hold similar blood sugar control benefit.

One thought of care out here is that if you going to just have these okra seeds water without dietary control and lifestyle medications, it alone isn’t going to work miraculously in controlling blood sugar levels. It has to be coupled up with complex carbohydrate rich diet with good fiber intake from salads and control on simple refined carbohydrate meals. And surely exercise too!!

Besides health benefits in lowering blood sugar, Okra is also rich in vitamin A and B complex vitamins, and helps in lowering lipid levels too.

May 26, 2016 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

“With my coach’s efforts and my determination, I have been able to quit smoking after 29 years”

At some point in time, we have all come across people who smoke. You also know how often they make resolutions to quit smoking and never end up keeping up with it. Quitting smoking can be a long and hard process. But, staying tobacco-free is the longest and most important part of it. Every day you must decide not to smoke today. One needs to create new habits such as drink lots of water, eat well and sleep well. Now that is exactly what S Balakrishnan (name changed to protect identity) who quit smoking after 29 years of smoking. Let’s hear from him what exactly did he do and how he did it…

I have not been a fitness freak or had a regular fitness regime. But, I would go for my morning walks daily. I never missed it and that was my only exercise towards being health conscious. As for my job it largely involves sitting at my desk but it is stressful. It’s the stress that was an excuse for me to increase my smoking along with being a habitual smoker since my college days. Smoking led me to acidity and lack of sleep as well.

The turning point in my life came when around 5 months ago, I attended a program organised by my company. At the programme, they gave out a fitness tracker–GOQii to create awareness of health and fitness among us employees and we were also told that the tracker is accompanied by a coach who will help us decipher the data tracked and give us tips on health and nutrition and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Initial one month I procrastinated on wearing the band. Then I decided let me try it out. My coach Sweta Karia has helped me a lot in my lifestyle change. My first health goal was to quit my smoking and reduce my acidity.

And I am glad to say that I have been able to stop my smoking habit for the last 1 month and this is one of my major achievements. I have been smoking for almost 29 years. If it was not for my coach I do not think I would have ever been able to do this.

Sweta did not do anything drastic to get me out of the habit. Our target was to get me off smoking in 3 months It was a slow and steady process. I used to smoke on an average 10 cigarettes a day. My coach systematically cut down the smoking from 10 to 8 to 6 to 5 then 4, 3, 2, 1 and then a lot of struggle and she was constantly supporting me then finally I was able to stop it. I’ve had also been asked to go for a walk whenever I feel the urge of smoking. But, I do not have the urge anymore.

My second issue was with my food habits. I thought I ate healthy but obviously, I didn’t. I lacked understanding on what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, what should be daily water intake. All these concepts were well defined and explained to me by my coach over these last few months. Being on GOQii has helped me get clarity on lots of aspects of health and nutrition. It has helped me understand what goals I need to achieve, quantification and how I can achieve them.

The one thing I have realised with GOQii is that one has, to be honest to oneself and your coach and follow the tips given to you diligently to get the best results.

My acidity was aggravated due my excess coffee drinking and smoking. I used to drink 5-6 cups daily. I was asked to bring it down slowly. Old habits die hard but I tried. I knew if I did not, it could only get worse and that would be painful for me. I bought it down to 4, but coach asked me to take just half a cup every time. So, then the frequency also came down from 4 to 2.

My water intake has also increased from 1.25 litres earlier to the current 2.75 litres of water every day. This has helped me a lot. I have also started having a lemon juice after my morning walks and then have my breakfast and bowl of fruits. My vegetable intake has increased and then the food intake has reduced. I have controlled my rice intake to a large extent. I go for a maximum of vegetables and salads, sprouts, carrots etc. These small habit changes have proved fruitful.

My activity levels have also seen a gradual increase. I also participated in a 21 km run and 10 km run and could do it easily. I clock around 13000 to 14000 steps a day which is quite normal for me nowadays. Along with all this, my coach has also advised me to do some breathing exercise at least twice in a day.

One more point what I’d like to mention is that there are 4 units of service that is followed in this industry. These are namely Design of service, Delivery mechanism, Passion, Touch and Feel and lastly building long term relationships.

GOQii follows these four essential aspects very well. The band is designed so well that there is clarity in the band usage. It links to the app easily without a cumbersome process and easy to operate. The charging mechanism is also simple. So the first aspect of design and quality is taken care of. GOQii’s delivery mechanism is also well taken care of in the form of their communication, the follow-ups that they do on a regular basis helping you keep your goals extended etc. The third thing I’d talk about is the passion, the touch and feel and emotion attached is well delivered. Each one at GOQii is a passionate about their roles and that is evident in various ways.The coach takes part in helping you as one of your own family members and she guides you properly.If your step count is down they motivate you to do more

Lastly, GOQii is trying to build long-term relationships by constantly seeking feedback from players on what sort of improvement we are able to do etc. That stems from the CEO who is in constant dialogue with his players trying to understand their needs.They not only take feedback but also try and implement and then they demonstrate to you without even saying explicitly. But, the effects are visible.

What does coach Sweta Kariahave to say about her players?

Initially, his meals were not well balanced and he used to smoke 10 cigarettes per day.
He was very dedicated towards his goal to quit smoking completely within a time span of 3 months and with all the efforts he made things possible. Not only that, we worked on his water intake, vitamin C intake as his immunity which was at risk due to smoking and unbalanced meals coupled with high stress levels..

I have never heard a NO from him for anything that I have asked him to do. We made things happen slowly. We started with initially bringing down his smoking to 2 cigarettes per week and slowly by the end of 3 months we came to 0..and is still at 0.

The other goals were given 100% attention too by him which makes him feel much better now and he is super active, healthy and happy too with the lifestyle changes he has made!!!

‘Want to get featured here? Click Here to tell us your story.’

May 24, 2016 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

How to train for High Altitude Trekking?

Almost a decade ago when I started trekking in the Himalayas, it was just a few enthusiasts who did this. It was not considered normal and people were under the impression that this is meant for only those who were super fit. Trekking is normally associated with arduous trudging on some hard and uneven ground, climbing and walking on moraines and all that’s associated with laborious tasks amidst hostile environments with bare shelter, food and clothing essentials.

While trekking you might come across situations where you are stuck and most times hit by the sheer untouched beauty of a picture perfect image that embeds itself permanently in your memory as you are exposed to the wilderness for a longer duration in a day. This beauty can be seldom enjoyed while in a car.

Having said this, trekking is not tough. If you know to walk then you can trek as well. But, this does not mean that one ventures into unknown territories on their own to explore the unknown. Walking along a trail around with a backpack does not require exceptional skills but does require certain amount of physical fitness, planning, the right clothes, shoes and above all old common sense.

For high altitude trekking it requires much more physical and mental preparation. At higher altitudes, the air is thinner, there is less available oxygen and it becomes more difficult to breathe. There are serious risks involved with high-altitude hiking, including altitude sickness, acute mountain syndrome that can lead to pulmonary or cerebral edema, all of which can result in death.

Therefore, before you go on a high-altitude hike, you need to train your body to work efficiently and effectively in environments with less oxygen.

Here are few steps that will help train for high altitude

** Begin training at least four tosix months in advance. This is especially important if you plan to hike at altitudes of more than 14,000 feet.

**See a doctor for a medical checkup in the early stages of training to ensure that high-altitude hiking is a safe and recommended activity for your age and physical condition.

** Hike as often as possible. The best thing you can do to prepare for higher-altitude hikes is to hike closer home as often as you can and at higher altitudes if available. Start gradually, increasing the distance and altitude of your treks with each week of training so that your body and lungs can become accustomed to functioning at increasing levels of altitude.

** Participate in interval training. Interval training is a method of training the cardiovascular system by elevating the heart rate significantly and then allowing it to recover for a period before elevating it again.

** Interval training could consist of running sprints, running hills or using the interval setting on a treadmill or exercise bike. Choose one day of the week for interval training and doing six repetitions of whatever exercise you have chosen. Each week, increase the intensity by running a faster sprint or a steeper hill. You also can train with your back pack with about 6 kgs in it to add weight and simulate the weight that you might be carrying during the high-altitude hike.

** For trekking you should work on developing a breathing rhythm and deep breathing. Your ability to control and conserve your breath and expand your breathing capacity will come in handy when the oxygen supply is reduced. Developing a breathing/stepping rhythm will prevent you from overexerting yourself at higher elevations. It also recommends practicing deep breathing on training hikes.Whenever you begin to feel breathless, concentrate on taking deep breaths and smaller steps until a more normal breathing pattern returns.Yoga asanas such as Kapalbhati, Vastrika, Anulom Vilom all of which entail breathing exercises.

** Lastly, you could also train with professionals who are trained in mountaineering to learn few basic techniques and nuances that may help while trekking.

My final advice: Try not to skip your work out if you can help it. Your safety and success depends on an how fit you are.

‘Want to get featured here? Click Here to tell us your story.’

May 20, 2016 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

“The fitness tracker has helped me bring about a discipline within myself”

He is a busy financial services profession and practically lives out his suitcase. He was leading a sedentary lifestyle with no workout or any fitness regime whatsoever. To add to this he would eat out more often than not. All put together it was a recipe for an unhealthy lifestyle. He needed to change that for himself. He decided to run the marathon which means it will automatically motivate him to run and do exercise every day. Let us hear it from Gawir Baig how he managed to shed his sedentary lifestyle and run a marathon.

I work in the financial services sector and my job is hectic that involves lots of travel. I practically led a very sedentary lifestyle with no much workout or exercise regime and lots of eating out. Everything combined was getting me to be unhealthy. I decided I need to do something about this and decided to run the 2015 Mumbai half-marathon and even registered for it. My wife was aware of it.

3-4 months before the marathon she gifted me a GOQii fitness tracker to start preparing for the marathon using GOQii as a tool, as a catalyst which could help you in getting ready for the marathon. Technically I got a GOQii in October 2014 and ParwageAlam was my coach.

The reason I was given the GOQii was to use this as a tool to start running and maintain the habit of running which could help me later to run 21 km half-marathon. I have run a bit in the past but because of my travel schedule, I was not regular. GOQii has helped me because I have a coach who monitors my activity, what I eat, what kind of diet I am following, the portions I am eating and whether I am drinking enough water or no.

The tracker has helped in terms of getting into a rhythm of following a fixed pattern for running and exercise as well as the dietary part. It helps me in bringing some kind of discipline within me amidst all the madness around. When I am traveling and even otherwise I used to eat out often and followed a very unhealthy diet pattern. By having a GOQii coach this has reduced drastically.

My coach then gave me a plan of how should I go about running for the next 4 weeks before the marathon. So maybe Monday 3 km then a break, Wednesday (3+2) km and so on. It was a pattern that helped me in terms of also increasing my stamina for running the marathon. I still consider the best part of this entire GOQii experience in terms of someone as a coach proved good to build up the stamina for the marathon.

I run better now and hence still continuing to run. I run about 4-5 days a week. I have come to a stage where if I do not run I don’t feel good. I run about 5 km and cool down on 1 km and warm up of 1 km; so 7 km altogether.

There have also been some habit changes brought in such not having a fruit after a meal. I have started having more proteins during lunch time. My lunch used to be completely carbohydrate driven now I include curds. I am not a vegetarian but my lunch is mostly vegetarian lunch so there is hardly any protein in that. Adding some curd is good protein. These dietary changes that I have brought about are helping me and I think the other thing which has really benefited me is having 5-6 meals a day.

Small and frequent meals which I wasn’t having earlier. I used to have good breakfast, a good lunch, a good dinner and sometimes maybe an evening snack which was very unhealthy evening snack. Frequent meal intake is something which is brought to me and I am continuing to do that.

On the sleep cycle, I wouldn’t say much because that’s correlated to the kind of work I do. I have to improve my sleep cycle. But, I am glad that on the dietary part and with regard to exercises GOQii has brought a good impact.

My health goal when I started on GOQii was training for the marathon. At that time, I also weighed close to 100. There was an instance when I was about to do skydiving and the threshold for skydive was 100 kilos, it was mentioned over there although they were a bit fine even if it is above 1 or 2 kilos above 100. I was almost at that threshold.

When I started preparing for the marathon, my weight reduced to about 92 kilos. Now my health goal is also to further reduce my weight by purely doing more activity and eating right. Over the next 18 months, I want to have a normal life and eventually bring down my weight to 82 kilos which are actually the right weight as per the BMI section. I am still at about 92.

I am happy with my progress thus far. Now I really feel bad if I don’t run on a particular day. Frequent meal system is what has been inculcated in my dietary habits and that has resulted in the gradual weight loss.

What does coach Parwage Alaam have to say about Gawir Baig?

Gawir Baig is a guy with full determination. If he decides to do something – he will achieve it. When he joined GOQii he wanted to run Marathon, so I guided him with the proper schedule of running and following up with the practice session. He was really amazing – hardly miss his workout (running practice + Strengthening exercise). Then on the final day of Marathon, he completed his first half marathon within two and half hours.

During his practice session, he challenged himself to run 10 KM in 68 Min on 23rd August, which was the qualifying run for Marathon and he prepared himself within 3 weeks despite his work schedules. Simultaneously he also followed all the tips in terms of diet pattern. He properly maintains his protein, carbs, vitamins intake and tries to have a balanced plate in every meal which has also helped him get lighter.