Archives for July 2021

July 27, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

10 Habits Which Are Destroying Your Health

Habits play an important role in our lives. From the time we wake up, till we hit the pillow at night, most of the things that we do during the day are wrapped up in some form of habits. Of these habits, some are towards keeping ourselves healthy and there are some habits which might be unnoticeable, but yet very harmful for us. Let’s take a look at the 10 habits that are destroying your health!

10 Habits That Are Destroying Your Health

Having fruits along with meals: We do get a good dose of carbohydrates in our regular meals and by adding extra carbohydrates, it will exceed the limit and lead to over intake of carbohydrates. It’s best to eat fruits half an hour before a meal or as mid meals.
Not having our meals on time: We should always have our meals on time. Once you do that, it helps us set up our body clock according to that specific meal time so that digestion and nutrient absorption happens at the same time every day and it won’t go off track.
Skipping breakfast or any other meals: Skipping our meals, especially breakfast, is not a good idea. It may lead to muscle loss, fatigue and irritation, among other health issues, as there might not be any energy and glucose to keep us going during a hectic day.
Having a heavy dinner: The calories and carbs which we have during dinner will not be utilized at night. So when we sleep, all of it is turned into fat and stored in the body. Always keep your dinner light.
Less water intake: may lead to dehydration and that can directly affect our immunity, which in turn can be the cause for many diseases. At least 2 to 3 liters of water in a day is must!
Keeping a long gap between your meals: Keeping long gaps between meals leads to overeating our next meal. It will also slow down our BMR so that we eat more and that is the cause for weight gain.
Chewing your food fast: We should always take at least 20 minutes to complete a meal. Chewing fast will not help in absorption and breakdown of the nutrients in the food that we eat.
Having processed foods: Processed foods which contain sugar, white flour or corn flour, may risk us with water retention in our body and will also increase our salt intake because of the preservatives.
Confusing thirst with hunger: Sometimes when we feel thirsty we may confuse it with hunger and start eating an untimely meal, so it’s best to first feel, recognize and keep yourself hydrated so that we don’t feel hungry because of less water intake.
Overeating: can easily go unnoticed and this can cause problems like weight gain and obesity. This is often regarded as an eating disorder. If you are a binge eater, it’s time to make some changes. Maintaining portion control is the best way to eat mindfully.

So sit back and check if these habits are a part of your lifestyle and change them for the best! If you have difficulty breaking a habit or need that extra dose of motivation, reach out to an expert by subscribing to personalized coaching with GOQii: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

#BeTheForce

July 24, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Losing 22kg at 80 with GOQii! Col Ravi Minocha User Journey

As we age, we are often unable to do the things we could before. Mobility issues as a result of old age often become an excuse for older adults to not get active. But we’re here to tell you that age is just a number if you have the will, determination and proper guidance towards living an active and healthy lifestyle. Don’t believe us? Let our player, Retired Army Col Ravi Minocha, tell you how he lost weight and beat his mobility issues with sheer willpower and the right guidance from GOQii! Recently, he spoke to our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal. You can watch their conversation here:

Life Before GOQii

“I was very active as an army officer. I was in the unit of Core of Electronics as a mechanical engineer. I retired from the army in 1994,” he says. “I always had a tendency to put on weight. After retirement, I joined the private sector and worked there for 10 years. In 2004, I stopped working and had developed arthritis issues in the knee due to which my mobility reduced.

Doctors suggested surgery as a solution, other than that, it was to pop some painkillers and go in for physiotherapy. I did not want to take pain killers and by now, my mobility had reduced a great deal. I could barely walk for 10 minutes. I reached a stage where I was shy of standing on a weighing scale as I had reached the weight of 99kg and had a waistline of about 48-49 inches. In June 2017, on my birthday, my daughter Latika gifted me a GOQii Tracker and what intrigued me was the coaching aspect.”

Making Steady Lifestyle Changes

Initially, Col Ravi Minocha struggled with losing weight and his son told him that he had to do something about controlling his weight. That’s when his health goal became to reduce weight. His ideal weight, as per his age and height was supposed to be around 76-77kg.

After getting onboard the GOQii Ecosystem, Col Ravi Minocha dedicatedly followed all the instructions given to him by his GOQii Coach. “My coach has been very accommodating,” he says. “She has only been motivating, never once discouraging. As for my bad habit of eating unhealthy, she directed me well towards healthy eating. We started small. I followed everything that my coach said religiously. I started enjoying the interactions with my coach. My coach had a lot to work on, including my unhealthy eating habits, my weight and also my mobility issues. So we started slowly.”

Within 3 months of being on GOQii, he started feeling the change and slowly his GOQii Coach revised the step count to 10K daily. His mobility issues persisted slightly even then but he realized it was getting better. The Coach also changed his eating habits by reducing his carb and sweets intake. He began eating millets, millet rotis – 8-10 meals in a week with millets, including salads. Controlled diet and exercises helped him improve his weight and with weight loss, his mobility improved.

Col Ravi Minocha Sees The Results of a Healthy Lifestyle

In 3 years, Col Ravi Minocha lost 22kg and his weight had reduced from 99kg to 77kg. His waist size has reduced from 49 inches to 38 inches now. Currently, he is working towards maintaining this weight which is ideal for his age and height. On an average, he completes around 12-13k steps.

In May, he took around 270km steps, which is equivalent to almost 7 marathons. He was quite chuffed looking at the data. He says that, “The GOQii App is very good and getting feedback is a very good thing.” Col Ravi Minocha has been renewing his subscription year after year and is extremely happy and thankful to his coach.

His daughter Latika stays in Singapore and is very happy to see her dad doing very well. She had gifted him a GOQii after her husband’s friend Jyotirmoy Saha, who also happens to be Vishal Gondal’s friend, suggested GOQii. She says, “What appealed to my dad was the personal coaching. We are all so proud of our dad and what he has achieved at his age. We all marvel at his will power and determination. Even now, he calls and says how many steps he has completed. He has become a great influencer for all of us, including my mom.”

What Does His Coach Falguni Bhojak Have To Say?

For Col Ravi Minocha, the goal we were working on was reducing his weight and tummy fat. But the main concern was his knee discomfort due to OA, because of which he had mobility issues. Due to his Arthritis issues, his mobility was restricted and he was not able to walk at a stretch for more than 10-15 minutes.

Then we started working on knee discomfort as in, started anti-inflammatory food, started knee exercises, walking with short breaks in between. I also looked into his diet and asked him to log his food every day so I could know what he was eating and how we could bring about changes in that. He started having lukewarm lemon water, more fruits and salads as well as green veggies. We introduced Millets in his diet and he started having millet roti and millet dosa.

He was so consistent and disciplined in updating logs from the time he joined! Even when he travelled to visit his daughter in Singapore, he kept updating his logs and kept updating me about his habits. Gradually, his mobility became better and he was completing 7-8 k steps by going to walk 2 times a day. Gradually we increased the time and now he can walk for an hour without breaks and discomfort.

He had some constipation problems in between, so we started including soaked black raisins to his diet and that helped. When his hemoglobin had shot down, we began including iron-rich food to ensure he remained healthy.

Col. Minocha is consistent with his habits and follows whatever is told to him. He is extremely disciplined in following his routine. Consistency and discipline have helped him achieve his health goals. Infact, on 29 June, he updated me that his weight is now down to 76.5kg.

As you can see from Col Ravi Minocha’s journey, it is never too late to make a positive shift to a healthier lifestyle. What’s stopping you? Subscribe for personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads.

#BeTheForce

July 21, 2021 By Megna Khanna Leave a Comment

Effective Tips To Motivate Your Child To Exercise

Obesity in children has become a common occurrence. At an age when the body needs to be built in a healthy way, diseases like obesity become a risk for a healthy future. As per Indian culture, till the child comes of age, practically all the decisions of their life are taken by their parents. In such a scenario, if the parents themselves do not know the importance of a healthy lifestyle, how will they encourage their children to follow it? So, before children, parents need to be educated regarding the importance of exercise for children. As these formative years are the building blocks for a healthy lifestyle, it is important to guide and motivate your child to exercise.

How Does Exercise Help Children?

Physical activity helps children sleep better and handle physical as well as emotional challenges more effectively resulting in control/check of weight, hypertension, cholesterol, sugar and also chronic diseases like cancer and anxiety. It further improves psychological well being, self-confidence and self-esteem. Training children to exercise regularly at an early age helps them grow up to be disciplined adults.

Tips To Motivate Your Child To Exercise

The most effective way to train children to exercise is by practicing what we preach and be a role model by including regular physical activity in our own lives.

Besides arranging family picnics, hiking expeditions, morning/evening walks and other sports and games, one can also add activity by walking or riding bicycles instead of driving, using stairs instead of elevators, helping in housework and gardening.
Another effective way to encourage children to get active is by praising them for their efforts. Instead of making them compete, they should be encouraged to cooperate with others and excel in their own records, as competition with others can lead to teasing, bullying and a sense of public failure and embarrassment. Children are more sensitive than average grownups and need all the support and encouragement to try again once they fumble or fail, which is a common phenomenon in case of children. Instead of nagging or negative comments, parents should become their cheerleaders.
Children love the company of their friends; it is a good idea to encourage them to invite their like minded friends over for a game or an excursion. If a child likes a team sport, they should be encouraged for the same. But here too, the focus should be on fitness, fun and learning new skills and not on competition as this can remove the fun from the activity and many children get discouraged by it.
Exercise and activity should come as a reward after a homework well done rather than as punishment by forcing a child to run laps or do pushups after a mistake or some mischief played by them as this may backfire and the child may start hating exercise and activity.
Often children are so overburdened with homework, private tuitions, and other planned activities that they do not have time for physical activity of their own choice. So think of adding some activity of their choice as an informal fun game rather than a training session.
A variety of games and sports equipment should be left on hand, like an assortment of balls, hula-hoops, and jump ropes, etc. this can make children enjoy the games and activities for hours.
If a child is lazy, they should be given incentives like a favorite food or book for an hour’s activity on a regular basis as this could be a great motivating factor.

We hope the above suggestions help you motivate your child to exercise. As an incentive to exercise and to monitor their health, you can also gift them the GOQii Smart Vital Jr. which could be a huge motivational factor for your child to take their health seriously. With a personal coach and a pediatrician on board, you can rest assured that your child’s health is in safe hands!

For more tips of kid’s health and nutrition, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to sessions by experts on GOQii Play. For more effective tips on kid’s health, weight loss, home workouts, etc. speak directly to your GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

July 20, 2021 By Dr. Vaidya's 2 Comments

5 Ways To Build Your Immunity Naturally

We take our immune systems for granted at most times. With the heightened threat of COVID-19 infection that is something, we can no longer afford to do. Boosting your immunity doesn’t require drastic action however. By digging into our rich Ayurvedic traditions we can find plenty of helpful information. In fact, Ayurveda’s primary focus has always been on disease prevention, rather than treatment. This means that it contains a vast repository of knowledge on strategies to strengthen and support natural functions, including immunity.

To make meaningful changes that improve immune function, you don’t need to adopt therapeutic practices or use nutritional supplements. While those methods will help and are supplementary, your main strategy should be to make small and natural changes to your daily lifestyle.

Proven Strategies to Build Immunity Naturally

1. Get Enough Sleep
If you wake up without feeling refreshed and feel sleepy through the day, you’re just not getting enough sleep. There are endless debates over how much sleep is adequate, but if you wake up refreshed and with high energy levels you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, most of us are sleep deprived or have disturbed sleep, which severely weakens immunity. Research that appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that the risk of respiratory infections is significantly higher in people who get under 6 hours of sleep. This is because sleep deprivation leads to a rise in cortisol levels and impaired T cell function.

If you suffer from any kind of sleep disorder, you can take steps to improve sleep quality. Adopting a disciplined night time ritual will help. You can take inspiration from the dinacharya, adhering to meal, exercise, and sleep times. Avoiding exposure to digital screens, artificial lighting, and any stimulating activity is a must for a few hours before bedtime. Meditation before bedtime can also help calm the mind and prepare you for sleep. If you still have difficulty getting good sleep, you can try using Ayurvedic herbs that have adaptogenic and sedative effects like brahmi and jatamansi.

2. Find a Stress Buster
We often hear about stress as a risk factor for almost all kinds of diseases and infections. In the past this may have been based on anecdotal evidence, but that is no longer the case. Research shows a clear link between stress and increased vulnerability to infections. This is once again linked to a rise in levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduced lymphocyte levels. Stress can also have an indirect impact on immunity. When we feel stressed and anxious we are more likely to make bad choices. A good example would be our turning to ice cream, chips, and junk as comfort foods.

Right now stress and anxiety levels are particularly high as it’s hard to stay socially isolated and trapped indoors. This makes it absolutely vital for you to adopt proven stress reduction techniques. In this context, mindfulness meditation is regarded as the most effective strategy and is even used in clinical programs to treat depression and anxiety disorder. If you need any additional support, you can also use Ayurvedic adaptogenic herbs like brahmi and ashwagandha.

3. Quit Smoking and Drinking
Nicotine and alcohol consumption are both regarded as harmful in Ayurveda because of their toxic effects. This is especially true with smoking as it has been linked to cancer and lung damage. From research, we now know that any kind of nicotine consumption is associated with such risks. Nicotine directly impairs immune function because of its adverse impact on antibody formation and T cell responses.

High intake of alcohol is also associated with severely weakened immune function. This effect is almost immediate, with a reduction in lymphocyte levels and weakened macrophage response soon after intoxication. Some of the toxic byproducts of alcohol are also known to directly damage lung function, increasing the risk of airborne illnesses.

4. Eat Smart
When it comes to diet and nutrition for immunity, Ayurveda has always been ahead of the curve. The importance of balanced nutrition, favoring natural foods with a high nutrition density has always been stressed. The importance of vitamin C from ingredients like amla has also been emphasized. Of course, to receive balanced nutrition that supports optimal immune function Ayurveda makes a broad recommendation too. The main principle here is to avoid or restrict all intake of processed foods, while opting for whole foods. This fundamental principle of Ayurvedic nutrition is now widely recognized.

Aside from increasing your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and pulses should also be included in your diet. Dahi is again important because of its natural probiotic content. This is important for the health of the gut microbiome, which researchers now recognize as critical to healthy immune function.

5. Stay Active
Ayurveda is notable as the world’s earliest medical system to recognize the importance of physical activity. Yoga has in fact been used as a form of physical therapy now for millennia. The importance of staying active for strong immune function has been validated by several modern studies. Such research shows that exercise helps through various mechanisms. It lowers stress levels and raises antibody levels. This has been shown to lower the risk of infection and significantly improve recovery.

Keep in mind that exercise to boost immunity isn’t about high intensity workouts or going to the gym. It is simply about staying active. In fact, over exercising can suppress immune function. Right now, the best choices would be activities like yoga, Pilates, dancing, and so on, as they don’t require you to step out of your home.

These are 5 of the most essential changes to strengthen your immune system. To get an added boost, you can once again turn to the wisdom of ancient Ayurveda. Herbs like amla, haridra, neem, sunth, tulsi, and ashwagandha are known to strengthen immune function and can be found in a wide range of Ayurvedic medications. Ayurvedic formulations like chyawanprash and triphala are also still highly regarded and remain the most popular antidotes to weak immunity.

We hope this article helps you. For more tips on building your immunity, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to experts on GOQii Play. Additionally, you can also reach out to your GOQii Coach who can help, guide and motivate you! Subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce

10 Habits Which Are Destroying Your Health

10 Habits That Are Destroying Your Health

Effective Tips To Motivate Your Child To Exercise

How Does Exercise Help Children?

Tips To Motivate Your Child To Exercise

5 Ways To Build Your Immunity Naturally

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