Archives for April 2021

April 19, 2021 By Urvi Gohil Leave a Comment

How To Stay Healthy On A Vacation!

A vacation is a good time to enjoy and stay carefree but it can certainly take you a step back in your fitness journey, if you are not mindful. There’s no need to panic! We’ve got you covered with few effective yet practical things you can do to stay healthy on a vacation.

Tips To Stay Healthy On A Vacation

Covid Safety: We have to live with the Pandemic for some time now and traveling with the pandemic needs more care. Sanitizer, gloves, sufficient masks, first aid is definitely something you need in your bag. Along with this, ensure you are washing your hands frequently and not touching your eyes, nose or mouth without washing the hands. Avoid highly crowded places and be mindful of what you touch.
Hydrate: The most neglected part of your vacation routine is your water intake. When you are low on hydration, you can take your body’s thirst urge as a hunger urge. This can make you snack more often and your portion control will vanish. So always keep a water bottle in your handbag or in your backpack and keep sipping every hour. This will avoid your hands on chips, and at the same time, will keep your stomach at its best.
Carry your snacks: Never forget to carry simple homemade snacks. They are half the calories you are going to consume from chips, chocolates, cold drinks, etc. for sure. Pack almonds, walnuts, dates, raisins and at the same time some makhana, roasted peanuts, roasted chana, khakhra, homemade chivda, popcorn, etc. This will help you avoid unhealthy snacking and fueling the fat cells.
Walk everywhere: Yes, your step counts should not fall while on vacation. Explore the place on your feet, take an opportunity to walk around and enjoy the serenity. Swim in the hotel pool, go hiking, walk around the market – indulge in everything which will pump up your metabolism. This way, you will avoid putting on extra weight even while vacationing.
Eat only until 80% full: Understand your hunger cues even while on vacation. Do not overfeed yourself to get the goodness of food. For main meals, take only one main plate (avoid using quarter plates) and portion the food you like in a controlled manner and eat it very slowly. Be practical while choosing your food, do not keep impractical expectations of avoiding desserts/sweets. Eat, but in moderation and eat only until 80% full. Stop when you are uncomfortable.
Eat your breakfast: Do not skip your first meal of the day! Enjoy a healthy and heavy breakfast so you can keep your hands away from unhealthy snacks till late noon. This will satisfy your hunger hormones in the morning and will help you control your portions for later in the day.
Only one treat a day: How can you keep your hands off desserts, hot gulab jamuns, ice creams, etc. while vacationing? The truth is you really cannot but you should. Keep a rule of only 1 portion of any treat per day and not more. This will avoid the unnecessary sugar rush in your body, which will in turn spike your hunger hormones, which will lead to overeating even during your main meals.

We hope these useful and doable tips and tricks will help you stay healthy on a vacation. Do let us know how you manage to stay healthy on a vacation in the comments below! For more healthy topics, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

Stay Safe and #BeTheForce

April 17, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Take The Best Route Forward! Lakshmi Ajitha Gets Healthier With GOQii

Being healthy is a consistent effort. No amount of crash dieting or overworking yourself at the gym for a few months can resolve health issues which have piled up over months and years. Many people find it difficult to follow a healthy routine. Sometimes, all you need is a little encouragement and the right guidance to get you started – something out player Lakshmi Ajitha realized through her association with GOQii!

Life Before GOQii

Lakshmi Ajitha is a 33 year old working professional from Bengaluru. She said that she’s always been on the heavier side since puberty. Post marriage, her weight only increased due to hormonal and lifestyle changes. Since the lockdown in March 2020, she only gained another 5-7kg. When someone would comment on her weight, she would turn to crash diets and quit them with zero consistency. Junk food, indulgence in sweets with no restrictions, eating out and lack of physical activities only contributed to her weight gain and slowly, all sorts of health issues such as thyroid and PCOS began creeping up on her.

In August 2020, a fitness challenge was rolled out in her company, and all who registered, received a GOQii tracker with 3 month subscription. Being someone who always lacked the inclination to do any kind of activity, she thought this might finally motivate her. So, she registered for the challenge and then there was no looking back.

Changing Habits To Improve Lifestyle

Lakshmi says though she received the tracker and had a coach assigned, she never took it seriously for at least a month. Then in October, when she was away on a 2 week vacation, there were numerous messages on her app from her Coach, expressing concern over her inactivity and not interacting with her. She felt there was someone who was really worried about her health and wished to help her.

She then had a call with her GOQii Coach Priyanka Mangla, who understood everything about her lifestyle, diet pattern and daily routine. She then slowly introduced small changes like a basic walk everyday to complete 5k steps, increasing water intake and cutting down on her tea intake from 5 cups a day to just 2 cups in a week. These changes also included avoiding maida, all kinds of processed food, reducing rice intake while increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Most importantly, her Coach taught her how to control sweet cravings which was a major challenge.

Lakshmi Ajitha says her coach never forced anything, always gave alternatives and gently guided her to the right foods. She always gave a reasoning as to why she should or shouldn’t do something. The Coach was also strict with her logging food and activity everyday.

Lakshmi says the best thing she liked about her Coach was that she appreciated even the smallest of her achievements, understood her body and suggested suitable options.

On the physical activity front, the third month saw her completing 10k steps everyday and thereafter, she was slowly introduced to basic bodyweight exercises. Sometime during December, she experienced knee pain which turned out to be OsteoArthritis. Her coach shared exercises which would not strain her knees and now the pain is very mild and only aggravates if she does any jumping activity.

Results After 6 Months Of Making a Lifestyle Change

Her weight reduced by 14kg over the last 6 months. In October and November, where her monthly cycles used to be completely unpredictable, now they have regularised and that too without any medication. Her TSH which used to hover between 7 and 12 until October last year, has come down to 1.4 when she last checked in February.

Lakshmi says what she liked about GOQii is that they focus on giving the best routes for the user rather than constantly nagging them about different plans and subscription renewals. She feels that’s the reason why she preferred to stick to GOQii rather than switch to competitors. She also finds GOQii Play as a huge repository of interesting and varied content.

In her own words, “Taking the first step is the most challenging and Priyanka did manage to break through my laziness and pulled me on the track to good health! Her concern seemed genuine and she was well qualified which further gave me the confidence to follow her instructions”.

Does Lakshmi Ajitha’s story inspire you to make a lifestyle change? Then download the GOQii App and subscribe now! To read more inspirational stories, check out Healthy Reads.

#BeTheForce

April 16, 2021 By Srini Leave a Comment

Sleep Series: The Relentless Rivalry of REM and NREM

When we sleep, we go through a few stages. Prominent among them are REM and NREM. It is observed that for some non-specific reason, there is significant movement of the eyeball in all directions rapidly during REM sleep BUT does NOT send any visual signals to the brain. Hence, the name Rapid Eye Movement ( REM) sleep and the opposite – Non REM sleep. Some also say that they are “deep sleep” vs “shallow sleep” which I am not a great fan of. I believe they are simply various stages of sleep.

Courtesy: sleepadvisor.org and Mathew Walker.

IF we draw a graph of brain neural activity, the graph will look something like this

As you can see, at the start it is the NREM which is occupying the real estate and the REM shows up intermittently. Approximately each of the cycles lasts for 90 minutes and then it changes. But in general, we can see the domination of NREM in the first half and REM in the second half.

Interesting Facts on REM and NREM

Dream your way to creativity: As homo sapiens came down from trees to sleep on flat grounds, they developed REM sleep as an evolutionary advancement. REM sleep is responsible for the evolution of creativity, memory and problem solving. It is during REM sleep, the neural network gets more intricately wired with new synapses being formed. In some sense, it is the REM sleep that contributed to the supremacy of humans over other animals.
Early morning school timing inhibits creativity: If schools, colleges or universities start pretty early in the morning, it is quite possible that the student has to wake up early and hence, foregoes some part of REM sleep. That is NOT good news for memory and creativity, which are most critical for studies.
Sleep algorithm is an enigma: NREM has been measured in 4 stages depending upon how deep it goes. The deeper it goes, the body gets better rest and the housekeeping activity of scavenging the brain of useless memory and storing of useful memory in the long term storage area happens – this is a totally involuntary activity based on an enigma algorithm. God/Nature is the first and best coder.
Forgetting is beautiful: The brain decides to delete (forget) what is irrelevant. You will definitely not remember what breakfast you had the same day last week. Forgetting is an essential function just as much as remembering is.
Striping emotion – REM heals: REM sleep is responsible for stripping emotion from past events over time. For example, you would remember the death of a close relative. But rarely you can recollect the emotions that were recorded when it happened. It is a blessing in a way. It is not the Time, but it is REM that heals!
7 hours or nothing: 5 cycles of 90 minutes – 450 minutes approx. 7 hours gives you a good full cycle. Anything less is like jumping 90% of the well! Short sleep leaves work undone and there is no use. You add to the pressure of work.
There can be no sleep “Deposit” and Sleep “Loans” ( this would appeal to the Finance community). You cannot oversleep to compensate for a past deficit nor you can accumulate a deficit to be cured by oversleep a bit later. It is 7.5 to 8 hours a day, every day! You would now have understood why from the chart above.
You cannot “Live your dream”: The motor activity other than breathing is all frozen during REM stage , all muscles (particularly limbs) are frozen – imagine you swishing your sword or trying to run away when chased by a cobra! It protects you from getting injured!
You are not meant to remember your dreams: You will only remember that you had vivid dreams or nightmares. Dreams have been the subject of so much research. Only one thing is clear – every dream is made of illogical and impossible combinations. If you behave during the day like the way you behaved in your dream, you will find yourself in a psychiatric ward. It is the façade or alibi as the brain is reorganizing the hard disk.
Dreams have no meaning: Do not over analyze, dreams have no hidden meaning. If you need to know something, why would it be revealed in your dream? It would rather appear in Times Square visible to all.
NREM is all about detox and growth: NREM sleep detoxifies the body, grows tissues, improves immunity, repairs injuries. Breathing slows down, body temperature goes down, blood pressure drops and the body gets a deep relaxation to get ready for the next day.
You need both: It is NOT that NREM is better and preferred than REM. Combined activity and result from both is critical for overall physical and mental health.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article on REM and NREM sleep. Stay tuned for more from the Sleep Series by Srini! To read more about sleep and sleeping techniques, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#BeTheForce

April 12, 2021 By Farhat Khan 3 Comments

How Does Omega 3 Help Muscle Building and Recovery

As we all know Omega 3 fatty acids are essential fats required by our body & we must get it from diet because our body cannot produce them on its own. There are 3 most important types of fatty acids which are:

Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA)
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)
Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)

Among this ALA is mostly found in plant oil like Flaxseeds oil, Soya bean and canola oils. While DHA & EPA are found in Animal food, mostly in fish and other sea foods. Our body can convert a small amount of ALA into DHA & EPA but it’s still not the optimum amount requirement by the body.

We all connect Omega 3’s with heart & brain health but we neglect the fact that it is essential for athletes and for people to lead an active lifestyle. Yes, from protecting our heart and brain, it plays a vital role in blood vessels, lungs, immune system, endocrine system and easing recovery after a workout.

As we know, protein is the main nutrient for athletes or sports persons, regardless of the workout whether it is weight lifting, cycling, running, swimming or muscle building. But do we know that Omega 3 fatty acids are equally involved in muscle protein synthesis? It is the process our body goes through to convert the protein we take, into fuel which is required by the muscles to grow, repair and stay strong after a workout. Having a good level of these fatty acids in your muscles during exercise seems to help muscle growth and recovery.

Food Sources for Omega 3

We can get adequate amount of Omega 3 fatty acids by eating variety of foods such as

Fish & other sea foods: Especially cold water fish such as Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, Herring and Sardines
Plant oils: Flaxseeds oil, soya bean oil & canola oil
Nuts & seeds: Chia seeds, walnuts & flaxseeds
Some fortified foods also contain Omega 3’s. These include yogurt, milk, soy beverages, eggs and juices.

Why Do We Need Omega 3 Fatty Acids Before a Workout?

It Improves endurance
Helps one perform better
Builds muscle
Helps increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass
Improves recovery time by reducing Inflammation

It’s common to feel sore post a workout. In fact, some people start to feel sore and stiff 2 days after a heavy workout. This is referred to as Delayed Onset Muscles Soreness (DOMS). It can affect workout motivation and performance and is caused by inflammation in muscle cells. Omega 3 helps inhibit the onset of DOMS and additionally helps in temporary muscle strength loss as well, improving workout performance.

Omega 3s increase muscles building response to amino acid (protein) & insulin too – both of which are normally released by the body during exercise. It means the more Omega 3 we have, the better the chances are in maintaining muscles and rebuilding them.

With increase in age, we can see progressive loss of muscle mass. It becomes more difficult to maintain and build muscles. The main cause can be a decreased response to both resistance training and protein intake. The Anti inflammatory properties of Omega 3 plays a role here by enhancing muscle sensitivity to protein and resistance training that will allow for greater gains in muscle size and strength with increasing age.

Omega 3 fatty acids can also help in decreasing the need for oxygen during exercise, which means that the body will work more efficiently and require less energy for the workout. This will directly help in improving recovery time.

Omega 3 fatty acids also play a great role for the person whose goal is to lose weight. Omega 3 fatty acids can help you burn fat by using it as energy. Here, the thumb rule is the more omega 3s you have, the better your body will function as it burns more fat for energy as you exercise.

Requirement

Requirement of Omega 3 fatty acids changes from person to person. Athletes and people who live an active lifestyle tend to have higher omega 3 needs than the average person. The required range varies from 1g to 8g per day of EPA & DHA. It is also advised to take it before an exercise session for better results.

We hope this article helps you! Do leave your thoughts and queries in the comments below! For more on fitness and nutrition, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#BeTheForce