Archives for January 2018

January 12, 2018 By Kajree Korade 2 Comments

Know your emotional hunger!

Have you ever made room for dessert even though you’re already full? Out of nowhere in the middle of doing something important, you start feeling hungry? Do you feel hungry before any important meeting? If yes, then you should check your emotional status.

Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food, usually ‘comfort’ or junk foods in response to feelings instead of hunger. Emotional eating is a maladaptive coping strategy used by many of us to deal with negative emotions.

Emotional eating can be caused by many reasons like stress, tension, depression, boredom, and sometimes due to excitement.

Today, let’s focus on stress as 69% of people are suffering from stress related disorders in India. Under High stress, your biological age can be 30 times higher than your calendar age.Modern life is full of frustrations, deadlines, and demands. For many people, stress has become a way of life. When stress becomes overwhelming, it can damage your health, mood, relationships and quality of life.

Stress also affectsour food preferences. Emotional distress increases the intake of food high in fat and sugar, and you sleep excessively under stress. Also, some people consume alcohol and all this leads to gaining weight around your abdomen and unfortunately, abdominal obesity puts you at specific risk for diabetes and heart attack.

In stress, adrenal glands release a hormone called cortisol, which makes you crave for carbohydrates, sugar and fatty foods. Food is soothing due to the chemical changes it creates in your body. Chocolate is an excellent example.

When junk food is calling your name, it’s possible to put boundaries on your emotional eating habits. Ready to break free from stress eating?

The solution to emotional eating is less about eating than it is about emotions.

When you’re tempted to snack for emotional reasons, try moving instead. Just walk for 10 minutes.
Try a quick breathing exercise. Slowing down your breathing can trick your body into thinking you are going to sleep, which in turn relaxes your body. Close your eyes and slowly breathe in and out.
Sip black tea. A study in the journal ofPsychopharmacology hasfound that subjects who consumed black tea experienced a 47% drop in their cortisol levels.
Try self-massage. It can be as simple as sitting down, rub your feet, one at a time, over the top of the heel until they feel relaxed.

You’ll eat better and healthier foods if you don’t let your emotions guide your food choices.

January 11, 2018 By Urvashi Malhotra - GOQii Coach 4 Comments

Vitamin D- The Gift of Sun

“Mrs. Sharma has been prescribed vitamin shots by the doctor”, gossiped my maid. She explained this both with surprise and fantasy with little clue of what the issue was with Mrs. Sharma. All she knew was Mrs. Sharma had been complaining of constant pain in most bones of her body

My 9 year old nephew, Phagun, pesters his mom to give him chocolate flavored supplement in his milk. He loves chocolate flavor, but he claims that adding this supplement to his milk would enhance the “power of milk” – a clear case of impact of television on children. But, is there any truth in what Phagun is claiming? Let’s understand.

The common thread between the 2 stories above is an essential nutrient called Vitamin D. Also known as the sunshine vitamin, it is produced by the body in response to sunlight. Latitude, cultural dress habits, season, sun avoidance, and sunscreen protection can all limit vitamin D production. Hence the sedentary lifestyle of Mrs. Sharma could be the reason of her problems today.Dietary source of Vitamin D comes from fortified foods such as milk, juices,margarines, yogurts, cereals, and soy, animal foods (oily fish, eggs, and liver).Vitamin D is constantly being used for calcium metabolism and bone and hence its connection to calcium absorption in the bodywhich means Phagun was right.

Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to play a role in almost every major disease like Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis. Research has shown that there is a correlation between low vitamin D levels, insulin resistance, and inflammation, all of which contribute to PCOS and other hormonal disorders

The best and natural way to get vitamin D is to sit in sun for short period of time for about 10 to 15 minutes -one doesn’t need to tan or burn our skin to get vitamin D. The more skin you expose the more vitamin D is produced.Vitamin D supplements is also a good way to get vitamin D particularly if you can’t get enough sunlight for some reason, or if you’re already deficient and is then recommended by physicians.Supplementation with 800 to 1000 IU/day of vitamin D is safe for most people and can ensure levels of vitamin D within the optimal range.

So next time, if you are trying to avoid sun to save yourselves from tanning or to avoid a risk of an additional pimple, think twice. Absorb the sun, its free and can free you from lot of troubles.

January 8, 2018 By Vrushali Athavle Leave a Comment

Gender Specific Workouts- A myth

How often have we asked this question of which work out is the best for me? How many of us have this myth that gyms workouts are specific to genders? Many of us do. Many a myth abounds regarding workouts and what is good for me and what is not?

It was a while before my friend and her husband decided to join the gym. I helped the couple with their Gym shopping such as shoes, water bottle, gym apparels, gym bag etc. And therefore all the more curious to know how was their first day at the Gym?

But, unfortunately, my friend’s first-day experience at the gym was very disappointing as was felt from her facial expressions. She was totally dissatisfied with her workout. Her first question to me was: “Hey I want to get in shape and lose this damn belly. I don’t want to look muscular”.

When did I ask her what had happened and what was the reason for her disappointment? She told me the reason and I burst into a laugh. But, on second thoughts I was not surprised hearing her reason. Most women gym goers are of the impression that they have special needs and that if they trained in a similar way as a man did, then they would start looking muscular like a guy

I calmed her down and explained how this was not true and that there is nothing called gender specific workouts. This whole concept of gender-specific workouts is an inbuilt inhibition of our own self. Physiologically speaking, women don’t need different workout plans. The reason being women do not have testosterone hormone which is responsible for building up massive muscles. Hence lifting heavier weights will not lead to building huge muscles unless you are supplementing it with additional testosterone.

Secondly, women tend to develop muscles at about half the rate at which men do. Therefore women who either altogether avoid lifting weights or only lift very light dumbbells for a high number of repetitions should stop having thoughts about developing huge muscles overnight.

The determination to work out or exercise on a regular basis is not about man vs. woman. It varies from individual to individual and what each person needs to be based on their body type and fitness levels.

One should make sure that you do not let anyone tell you what to do and what not to do. If you ever have a doubt you should speak to your personal trainer or coach. Your determining factor should be whether or not it is for you based on many over factors way beyond that.

The only time when a possible change in workouts may come about is during pre and post pregnancy or due to other medical conditions and advised by the doctor

Thus, safely we can conclude, both men and women need to apply the same general principles of weight training for improved fat burning and body toning, cardio for keeping the heart healthy, proper diet and enough rest to ensure overtraining doesn’t set in.

January 7, 2018 By Fatema Khamgaonwala 4 Comments

You can do so much beyond just salads with ‘Sprouts 6 delicious and healthy recipes

We are all fond of salads and soups. And, if that salad and soup are super nutritious then we can safely conclude that we are eating right. I love sprouts and they are nutritionally very good too. Usually, when people hear the word sprouts they think probably yet another boring veggie salad but, we can make it interesting and tasty. I had made some few advances with sprouts to make it tasty, tangy and healthier too…

Here is my collection of recipes. It’s personally tried and tested special dishes of sprouts. So put on your chef’s hat and exhibit your cooking skills!

Sprout Cutlet/Tikki

Ingredients:

Mixed sprouts [garbanzo bean (Kabuli chana), Green Gram ( moong)] 20 gm
Grated veggies (carrot, potato, pumpkin, lauki, etc.)
Chickpea Flour (Besan) (just for binding) 1tsp
Semolina (Suji/rawa)-for wrapping
Dry masalas-turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Salt according to taste and tangy spices (chat masala) -pinch

Method:

Boil sprouts and potato. Mash it. Don’t boil other veggies just grate it finely. Mix all the ingredients except semolina (Suji/Rawa). Make flat balls out of the mixture and then wrap it in the semolina and shallow fry it. Finally, serve it with chutney or sauce.

2. Sprout Mix

Ingredients:

Mixed sprouts (garbanzo bean (kabuli chana), Green Gram ( moong) 20 gm
Vegetables such as carrot, onion, tomato, beetroot, cucumber, corn
dry masalas-turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Salt according to taste and tangy spices (chaat masala) -pinch

Method:

Take mixed sprouts add finely chopped vegetables and all dry spices. Then serve it with coriander and tamarind sauce (chutney).

3. Sprouts and Paneer Schezwan Cigar

Ingredient

Green Gram (Moong) Sprouts – 1 cup
Grated Cottage Cheese (Paneer) – 1 cup
Szechuan Sauce – 3 tbsp
Sweet and Chili sauce – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Grated cheese – 1/4 cup
For rolls: wheat flour Indian bread (chapatti) or multigrain flour bread (chapatti).

Method:

In a big mixing bowl, take sprouts, cottage cheese, Szechuan sauce, sweet and chilli sauce, cheese and salt. Mix them well. Keep it aside.
Take one wheat flour or multigrain cooked bread (chapatti). Place a portion of the cottage cheese and sprouts mixture at one corner of the bread. Roll it up tightly starting from the end where the filling is placed to make a cigar. Seal the edges of the bread (Chapattis)
Shallow fry it in the pan.

Paneer and Sprouts Szechuan Cigar is ready. Serve them immediately with spicy sauce.

4. Sprout Sandwich

Ingredients:

Mix sprouts
Multigrain bread
Grated vegetable (carrot, pumpkin etc.)
Raw vegetables cut in slice: onion, tomato, cucumber
Grated paneer-1/4th cube
Dry masalas: Red chilli powder, turmeric, chat masalas

Method:

Except for raw vegetable mix, all the ingredients and your filling are ready.

Now take bread apply coriander chutney on it and place the above mixture, place then the raw sliced vegetables and close it with the other slice of bread on it and grill it. Serve hot with sauce.

5. Mixed Sprouts Dosa

Grind sprouts along with steamed Pancake (Idli-dosa) batter, Cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, green chillies along with a little water.
Don’t add too much water.
Add salt and mix.
For the seasoning, finely chopped onions, green chilli, coriander and curry leaves.
Mix with cumin seeds and set aside.
This is an optional step to use as a topping/stuffing for the steamed flat pancakes (dosa).
Heat a girdle over medium heat.
When it is hot enough, pour a ladle of batter and swirl in a circular motion to spread it.
Drizzle very little oil around the dosa.
Spread some of the seasonings on the top. The wet surface will help it to stick.
Add a few drops of oil over the onions if required or just press with the ladle so that the onions stick to the steamed pancake (dosa) without falling off.
When it is done on that side flip to other side and
Cook for a minute.
Turn it again, fold and remove into a serving plate.
Repeat the process to make the required number of flat pancakes.
For mixed sprout steamed pancake (dosa) with coriander: Now include generous amounts of chopped coriander to the above batter and grind once again.
Make steamed pancakes with this batter following the same process as above.

6. Sprouts Pancake

Ingredients:

Mixed sprouts-20 gm
Ground oats-10 gm or 1 tablespoon
Grated vegetables-carrot, bottle gourd, pumpkin, spinach etc.
Dry spices -red chilli powder, turmeric, salt to taste

Method:

Grind the sprouts.
Take a bowl and pour the ground powder of sprouts and all the ingredients and add water to it and make a thin batter.
Heat a girdle over medium heat.
When it is hot enough, pour a ladle of batter and swirl in a circular motion to spread it.
Drizzle very little oil around the pancake.
Flip it up and cook it from both the sides.