Archives for March 2019

March 7, 2019 By Farzana Chauhan 3 Comments

5 Astounding Benefits of Walking 100 Steps Post Dinner

Centuries ago, the Greek physician, Hippocrates said, “Walking is man’s best medicine”. This saying is true even today. A recent study by scientists from the University College London proved that walking helps in minimizing the risk of cardiovascular dysfunctions by 31%. It even reduces the risk of deaths from diabetes and related illnesses by 32%.

Walking 10,000 steps everyday will help you stay fit. It can facilitate a healthy living in ways you can’t imagine. Being the safest and easiest exercise possible, walking helps your cardiovascular fitness. It aids weight loss, boosts your mental health and shapes your body.

It’s suggested by some health experts that walking 100 steps before going to sleep every night is good for your health. Usually, we would spend the time post dinner and before sleep in front of a TV or checking emails. Instead, go for a short walk! A minimum of 100 steps will help you burn calories, improve digestion, and control blood sugar levels among other benefits.

Aids Digestion

Walking accelerates the secretion of gastric juices and enzymes responsible for breaking your food into beneficial elements. Under normal conditions, it takes some time for this process to start. This results in the occasional acidity, indigestion and other stomach related complications. Walking around 100 steps will help you sleep better and wake up fresh and healthy.

Maintains Blood Sugar

For those suffering from diabetes (type 2) and extreme blood sugar levels, walking after half hour of having had a meal will help breakdown the food component with more utilization of glucose and improved blood circulation. A physically active body will always need more glucose (sugar level) to burn, thereby controlling/limiting the accumulation of the same.

Helps Metabolism & Facilitates Weight Loss

Any kind of exercise boosts the body’s metabolism, aids blood circulation, burns stored fats and filters unwanted chemicals out of the body. You certainly cannot go through rigorous exercise after dinner. Walking for half a mile solves this problem. Burning of fat and an improved body metabolism also leads to losing weight. For elders, walking after meals is strictly advised to maintain a healthy body. However, this should be practiced by individuals of all ages.

Improves blood circulation

Walking 100 steps after dinner can work up the muscles and facilitate better blood circulation through the body. It only takes a 15 minute stroll to lower the accumulated fat levels in your blood (comprising of harmful cholesterol and triglycerides). Your blood stream will be supplied with more oxygen as your lungs will demand more air.

Relieves stress and improves sleep

Doctors have always advised against going to bed immediately after dinner. If you cannot step out, walking within your home is a good idea as well. For those who lead a sedentary life, walking for a while after dinner aids digestion. Which in turn helps you get better quality sleep.

Make walking after dinner a habit for a lifetime. You will certainly be able to experience positive results within a few weeks. Considered one of the easiest of all exercises. Walking 100 steps after dinner can surprisingly bring a healthy turnaround in your life.

March 6, 2019 By Poonam Goyal 3 Comments

What Alkaline Water Does To Your Body!

A few days back, I was at a store. I came across water filters that claimed they increase energy and regulate the body’s pH level. It tempted me. To add something more healthy to my regimen, I purchased an expensive filter without knowing what I was really buying. Now that I have read up a little on Alkaline Water, I want to share my thoughts on it.

First, let’s understand what Alkaline Water is and how different it is from regular water. Certainly, it boils down to the pH levels. Liquids with a pH closer to 0 are very acidic while liquids with a pH close to 14 are very alkaline. Pure water is neutral and has a pH of 7.0 whereas Alkaline Water has a pH between 7-9.5.

In today’s fast paced world, our gastric acid levels have increased. Due to our dependence on processed foods, artificial additives, refined sugar, increasing stress levels and reduced physical activity, there’s an imbalance in the acid and alkaline environment in our body. So we are moving towards quick fixes like alkaline water.

Advantages of alkaline water

The most important health benefit of alkaline water is to fight acid reflux, which is a common health concern these days
It makes us feel more energetic as our body is able to absorb it more quickly
Healthier gut, as higher pH water protects us from dangerous microorganisms due to its negative oxidation-reduction potential (ORP).
Provides antioxidants
Protection from contaminated water

Disadvantages of Alkaline water

Digestive malfunction – drinking alkaline water can cause steep changes in the levels of pH and can hinder the digestion process
Can cause a condition called hypochlorhydria, that is the reduced absorption of calcium in our body
Presence of too many ions in the body can result in acute dehydration at the cellular level
Exert pressure on the kidney to bring the pH level to ideal

Artificial Alkaline Water

Lot of water ionizers are available in the market these days. In essence, what they do is split the water molecules with electricity to create alkaline water. We get them in the form of water filters or filter bottles.

All water found in nature has a pH that perfectly corresponds to the minerals in water. When we drink alkaline water, our body assumes it is receiving alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium. The problem with ionized water is that the body thinks it is receiving more alkaline minerals than what are actually present in the water.

Before the body is stressed by the artificial alkalinity, the first 30 days might make you feel better due to the presence of antioxidants and hydration. Other side effects can be erratic heart behavior, hypertension, UTI, infections etc.

It is also advised that if we are drinking ionized water or artificially alkaline water, we should measure our bodies pH daily and regulate the consumption accordingly.

Few Interesting facts about our body’s pH

Our body regulates blood pH in a very narrow range because all the enzymes are designed to work at pH 7.4. If the pH varies too much it will not be able to function
We cannot change the pH of our blood but our diet does affect the pH of our urine. Normally urine is at pH 6, which is acidic but normal and shows our kidney is working fine
The pH of the stomach acid or gastric acid is 1.5 – 3.5 which is required for the proper digestion of our food . Alkaline ions might cancel the acid and neutralize it
It is the job of the lungs, liver and kidney to maintain a normal pH of our body
The most common minerals found in water are calcium, potassium, copper, manganese, magnesium and iron. According to World Health Organisation(WHO), water contributes to 1-20% of the dietary intake of some trace minerals

How to Make Your Body Alkaline Naturally

Start your day with a glass of lemon water
Add a tsp of natural baking soda to water and drink it the first thing in the morning. It helps neutralise stomach acids and provides relief from indigestion in adults
Add some cucumber slices to water to make it alkaline
Store water in a copper vessel and drink it in the morning
Drink cumin water or cumin tea. Cumin water generally stimulates the secretion of digestive enzymes and accelerates the digestion process, thus helping you fight gut issues
Vegetable juice will not only make your body alkaline but add various nutrients to your diet too
Start your day with a glass of water with 1-2 tbsp of Aloe Vera juice added to it. Aloe Vera juice alkalizes the body, balancing overly acidic dietary habits
Drink natural coconut water. The pH acidic level in the body turns alkaline when you drink coconut water and that’s why it’s good for acidity
Add more fruits and vegetables in your diet. According to the Institute of medicine 20% of water comes from food sources

Naturally occurring alkaline water is undoubtedly good for health but what we get in the present times is water that is artificially made alkaline. If our goal is to be healthy why would we drink or eat anything artificial.

March 4, 2019 By GOQii 1 Comment

Why Maintaining Gut Health is Important

Ever heard of the phrase, “You are what you eat?” What if we were to tell you that you are not what you eat but what you digest?” It’s no surprise that almost all diseases begin in the gut. The maintenance of ‘Microflora’ (balance of good bacteria) in the gut is crucial for good health, immunity and even the prevention, healing and recovery from serious diseases like cancer.

Your intestines (gut) contain pounds of good bacteria whose job is to help with the absorption of nutrients from the food you eat. The good bacteria determines the strength of your immunity, regulates weight loss, recovery, healing, colon health, toxicity in the body and several other functions.

As per our India Fit Report, we found that ‘gut health’ is an area of key concern among users. Issues such as acidity, indigestion, constipation, and bloating have seen a steep incline since last year.

Some of the key finds include:

35% of India has acidity issues which is a 12% incline since last year
Kolkata has the most digestive concerns – Acidity at 45% and Constipation at 20%
Women have 10% more gut health issues than men
Bloating is an issue mainly among women
Seniors see an average of 11% more gut issues than people aged 45-60 years which may be due to medication for lifestyle diseases
More doctors are actively prescribing lifestyle improvements (nutrition, exercise and sleep)

This raises many concerns about India’s health and nutrition. For a healthy lifestyle and to achieve health goals, you need to take care of your gut health first!

Here are a few tips that will help you maintain a strong and healthy gut

Include good fibre in your everyday routine which should include raw and cooked vegetables with 2-3 fruits
Add a natural probiotic like curd in your diet
Walk and get moving, reduce the sitting time through the day
Maintain good water intake to flush out toxins and even aid passage of stools to reduce constipation
Learn to chew your food thoroughly and not eat on the run

We hope this article gives you a better insight into gut health and how to maintain it. Do check our IndiaFit Report for more insights.

#BeTheForce

March 1, 2019 By Luke Coutinho 79 Comments

Why Stair Climbing Is The Best Exercise!

You can run a 5k but running up a couple of flights of stairs tires you out? You can squat heavy and lunge with weights, yet walking up a couple of flights of steps makes it feel like a whole other workout? Here’s a workout that can actually challenge your body, endurance and actual strength and stamina

Climbing stairs is one of the best exercises when it comes to pure FAT BURN, strengthening the lower body, toning the butt, thighs, calves, losing inches from those love handles and belly as well as building great abs. Along with these benefits, it is the immense good it does for your lungs and CardioVascular System.

Why Should You Choose Stairs?

It is totally free and just about all of us can get access to a set of stairs
It leverages gravity and the heavier we are, the harder we’re forced to work and the more calories we burn
It is a relatively intense exercise that quickly increases our heart rate and in doing so, can greatly improve our cardiovascular fitness
It helps strengthen and shape our most common problem areas like calves, thighs, buttocks and tummy
It is a very efficient way of burning maximum calories and is great for those of us with limited time to exercise
It can easily be mixed with other exercises like walking, skipping and weight training to maximize results. Stair climbing workouts are easy to build progression into
It can be done by almost anyone, regardless of fitness level
Because it is weight bearing, it helps build bone strength
It is low impact and safe for the knees, provided the correct technique is used and a pre-existing condition doesn’t exist

The way forward with exercise is quality over quantity. Too many people fix a ‘one hour’ workout in their mind and if they can’t find time for that ‘1 hour’, they just don’t do it.

Aim for power workouts, 25 to 30 mins max, where you max out your reps, burn those muscles and really get your heart rate up. 35 to 40 minutes should include a great warm up and an extremely important cool down.

You can burn more calories walking/running up steps in 30 mins than a 1 hour run or walk, plus it challenges your body.

Start off with a couple of flights, walk and run slowly. As you get better, run and then skip 2 steps at a time and run or walk.

In a nutshell. Walking:

Burns More Calories
Stair climbing engages your body’s largest muscle groups to repeatedly lift your body weight up, step after step. Thus, using your muscles to carry your own weight is far higher to running as compared
Maximizes Your Cardio Efforts
It also raises your heart rate immediately, thus, maximizing your cardio benefits
Increases Core Muscle Strength
Climbing stairs is a great way to amp your core muscle strength
Tones & Sculpts Your Body
It also engages every major muscle in your lower body — glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, abs and calves to exercise and thus tones your body better
Low Impact Workout
You don’t have to ideally sweat it out while climbing stairs. Just a few stairs every day will give you a good workou

Safety First

Never run down the stairs, be confident while running up and take a break when needed.

Start doing this regularly and soon, you will be running up flights of stairs, feeling fitter, younger, stronger and leaner.

5 Astounding Benefits of Walking 100 Steps Post Dinner

Aids Digestion

Maintains Blood Sugar

Helps Metabolism & Facilitates Weight Loss

Improves blood circulation

Relieves stress and improves sleep