About Anusha Subramanian

Anusha Subramanian, a British Chevening Scholar and a two-time award-winning journalist is a health, fitness and adventure enthusiast. She has combined her skills sets of writing and adventure training to be able to work for the larger good of the society by getting more people introduced to the outdoors and adventure.

November 3, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

A ‘Smile’ a day keeps the ‘Blues’ away

smile

The benefit of smiling is a subject which isn’t discussed much. You might be wondering, how a smile can have an impact on your health, considering that it is just an expression you make. Today, we are going to find out how a smile can bring about a change in our lives and how it contributes to our wellbeing.

Mood Enhancer:

Did you know that smiling releases endorphins into the brain? Endorphins fight pain and stress just like morphine and other painkillers. They boost your mood and take your mind away from whatever it is that’s distracting you. The best part is that it is totally free of cost, nobody can charge for cracking a smile. So stop investing in drugs and smile more often, for a free of cost mood enhancer.

Heart Friendly:

Are you someone who has a history of heart diseases? Is your blood pressure high? If yes, smiling is an excellent companion for you. Studies show that smiling reduces the heart rate and helps the body to relax. This enables the heart to work without putting much strain. So smile more often and be the proud owner of a healthy heart.

Productivity Accelerator:

Ever wondered why those silly internet memes or funny videos between work, helps you relax and work faster later on? You smile when you see them and it accelerates your productivity. Smiling more often is believed to increase your productivity at work or any other areas of life. Are you someone who enjoys whistling while you work? This is very similar. Now you know what to do when you feel like you are slowing down.

Induces Empathy:

We find ourselves in embarrassing situations on a regular basis. Whether you are at home or work, these situations are always lurking in every corner. The first response to an embarrassing moment is a smile. This helps in breaking the ice and makes others be more lenient about what they think of you, thereby inducing a sense of empathy in them.

Natural Painkiller:

As I mentioned earlier, smiling releases endorphins into the brain which helps in reducing the sensation of pain and also lifting our mood. The next time you hurt yourself, try to keep a smile on your face and the pain will start reducing.

Builds Immunity:

Smiling helps the body to relax and this helps the immune system to react better when invaders come knocking at the door. Add some smile to your daily dose of proteins and vitamins, for a strong immunity system.

Lasting Longevity:

Taking all the above factors into consideration, we can easily conclude that people who smile more, live longer because it reduces stress, helps your heart and does much more in keeping you healthier for a longer time. Smile more and live longer!

October 16, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Age no Bar, if you’re determined to achieve your goals

shankar

Transformed Shankar Sabadi

Every day is another chance to get stronger, to get better and to live healthier. At 54 years of age, Shankar Sabadi from Hubli in Karnataka proved that age is just a number if you are really determined in achieving your goals. He joined GOQii on 1^st May 2017 and has turned his life around in an unbelievable fashion.

A businessman by profession, Shankar was not always appealed by the idea of staying healthy. His friend had to persuade him for almost a year before he decided to give it a try. At the age of 54, Shankar was fairly content with his life, not feeling the need to stay healthy. His bigger apprehension of joining a health platform was being asked to restrict himself from doing things and eating stuff that he has been fond of. However, he was aware that it was important to keep an open mind and not give up when starting a health journey. Soon and surely his attitude changed and also the state of his health, in a good way.

Initially, Shankar’s health goals were to reduce his belly fat which was at 46 inches, then reducing the 15 tablets he was popping on a daily basis, improving his calcium levels and lastly getting rid of unhealthy eating habits. Already having a medical history of high blood pressure, he started slow and gradually eased into his regime.

When asked about his routine, this is what Shankar had to say:

“My coach Anagha started by inculcating, simple but healthy habits like having 2tbsp of Sesame seeds daily in the morning, having small and frequent meals, not eating fruits after sunset etc. I also reduced my consumption of salt considering my history with high BP and started taking small walks after every meal. As I started feeling more comfortable with the program, I decided to take my goals a notch higher. I focused on shedding some weight and also burning some belly fat. Though I could have never imagined myself doing any of these earlier and achieving my goal, joining GOQii induced a new-born confidence in me. 8 months into the program, the results were miraculous. I reduced more than 80% belly fat reaching a waist size of 36 inches from 46 inches and also shed 15kgs in weight.”

“My BP is back to normalcy and cholesterol levels dropped significantly. I used to take 8 pills a day for my cholesterol and BP and now I don’t take only 1 for BP. All my other Tabs for calcium and pains etc have also been stopped completely. My stamina and endurance are much better now, I couldn’t walk 100 metres without getting tired but, now I walk to achieve my target of 10000 steps daily. I walk for over 2 km a day. I also completed a trek of 252kms in 6 days, covering an average of 40kms per day and not once did I feel the need for any kind of medical attention. It was a proud moment for me. Overall, it has been a wonderful time for me and I look forward to achieving more and always stay healthy,” he adds.

At this age, it is easy to say Shankar has achieved wonders.

This is what his coach Anagha Kulkarni had to say :

“We started our journey on 1^st May 2017. The most amazing thing about him is that he is very determined and enthusiastic to learn and improve. We focused on his diet primarily and encouraged him to eat more meals but in lesser quantities, from three meals a day, it went up to 5. He has been an active player on the app since the beginning and seeing his determination gives me the incentive to help him further. We maintain a good contact on the app and I get all the data about his meals and activities regularly. I’m very proud of the trek he completed, which would’ve been an impossible task for someone of his age. Now, we are just working on muscle strengthening and maintaining his current health routine.

Shankar Sabadi’s story has set an example for everyone who thinks it’s too late for them, and use their age as an excuse for not leading a healthy lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, age is just a number if you are really determined to make your dreams come true.

“Do not go gentle into that night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light”– Dylan Thomas

October 2, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Catalysing Social Change through Karma

How often do we all do Charity? Be it in monetary terms or just about helping somebody with his or her studies or spending time playing with the underprivileged kids. We seldom do it unless some friend actually points us to a particular cause that he or she is related to. Let’s accept the fact that Philanthropy does not come to us easily. While globalization is increasingly making us aware of all the problems facing humanity today, we aren’t doing much to bring about a social change in our very own little ways.

Everywhere around us, there is hunger, unemployment, lack of medical facilities and education. Not much has been done to eradicate poverty from every corner of this country, extend health care, provide basic education to one and all and protect our environment. Anyone who’s studied emerging markets talks about the opportunities the BoP offers, especially in South Asia and more importantly in India. It’s a well-known fact how 70% of the population lives in rural areas and 75.6% live on less than $2 a day.

People below poverty line around the world are not asking for the moon or any aspiration goods and services but they ask for the basics such as infrastructure, water, energy, education, and employment to be able to live a decent and sustainable life.

There may not be one resolution to all the problems. And, non-profits for decades have been working for the betterment of the lives of the people at the bottom of the pyramid. But, there is only so much they can do and should do. There is a new breed of young social entrepreneurs (Socents) who have sprung up in the last decade or so and are doing their best to bring about a social change.

But, apart from NGOs and the Social entrepreneurs, the opportunity to do Karma or good to others awaits all of us. There is an opportunity for us as an individual to be bold and use our unique role as philanthropists to spark, and drive, large-scale social change. Whether as a social entrepreneur or by supporting a social cause, each one us has the opportunity to participate and do ‘Karma’(Doing good to others). GOQii, provides that opportunity to do Karma by being healthy and fit and earning karma points.

At GOQii, our philosophy has been to achieve harmony between mind, body & soul. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s journey of 390 KM, for every 390 steps tracked through your activity tracker, you earn 1 Karma Point. These points then get converted into monetary donations by our donor partners.

Believe me, I can say from my own experience that doing Karma will only help bring a positive change in your life, a change for the better.

Who knows…One day, you may look back and say, “I was there at the beginning—and I made a difference.”

September 8, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE

We are all at some point in life restricted by many emotional barricades. They stop us from progressing further in life and affect’s your morale drastically. Shripavan’s tells a story similar to that and he has successfully ended it by proving that it’s never too late to achieve what you want in life.

Shripavan Radhakrishnan (23) led a lifestyle which most would define as an unhealthy one. Since childhood, he has been an avid foodie who was extremely fond of chocolates, ice creams, and other dairy products. Not surprising at all, who doesn’t like chocolates and ice cream right? We feel you Shri. The problem occurred when he carried his childhood eating habits to the later years of his life. By the time he was in college, Shri had an unfortunate gift which most foodies carry around, a pot belly.

Before/After

Weighing about 72 kgs with a waistline of 36 inches, Shri was totally uncomfortable in his skin. This might not sound like an extreme situation but who are we to define that? The only thing that mattered was how much it was affecting him emotionally and the results were drastic. He was constantly made fun of in college because of his physique and this put forth many barriers for him to move forward confidently. Taking the health aspect into consideration, Shri was dealing with vomiting and diarrhea on a daily basis.

Nothing changed until Shripavan became an employee and started working for a private organization. This is when he was first introduced to GOQii by a colleague, in April 2018. Shri was immediately impressed by the cause GOQii stood for. He further researched the brand and soon ordered a GOQii band for himself. He has been a GOQii player for the past three months and the changes have turned his life around.

When asked about his experience with GOQii this is what he had to say:

“I joined the GOQii team about 4 months ago, my colleague/friend Ranjith is the one who introduced me to this amazing platform and I still thank him for it. He explained to me how the band works and how it helps you track your daily activities and eating habits. I soon ordered one for myself.

Looking back in time, I’ve had many unpleasant experiences because of my physique. I remember a time when I used to look at myself in the mirror and constantly criticize myself for my habits. Ah! Those were indeed the dark days. I weighed about 72 kgs and my waistline was 36 inches. My health was also going down the drain, literally! I was forced to accept Vomiting and Diarrhoea as a part of my life, that’s how bad it was.

Now, my life as a GOQii player has been somewhat different. With the help of my coach Hima Gupta, who has been a powerhouse of motivation for me, we addressed problems at the very basic level and to my surprise, this made a big difference in my life. Today, I’ve brought down my weight to 62 kgs, losing nearly 10 kgs and my waistline is 32 inches which were about 36 earlier. From my diet to exercise everything was specially designed to extract the best out of me to bring out the best in me. I reduced my sugar intake and started working out regularly. Various types of planks, crunches and cycling exercises were the major components of my workout. The karma point system served as a major incentive during the course of my journey, it felt good to know that every time I exerted the best of myself out there, I was also supporting a cause for the greater good of the society.

GOQii arena was another platform that made this entire journey much more fun, meeting like-minded people who share the same interests as you do was truly an amazing experience.

My hard work has paid and I have managed to get my body back in shape and my coach deserves the greater portion of the credits. She has been so patient with me the entire time, providing me with the support in times of need. I regularly record everything I eat into the food log and hope to continue on this path of a healthy living.”

Coach Hima was very enthusiastic to talk about her player.

“Shripavan has been really cooperating and full of spirit from the very beginning. He was excited to try new things in his workout and never complained. His major goal was to shed some inches around his belly and to make this possible we started slow, with brisk walking and planks. We also focused on his daily meals and infused more healthy food items into it. This helped him a lot with his metabolism and once he was used to this routine, I also added detox drinks and some core workouts into his regime, which he followed diligently. His dedication and high spirits helped him achieve his goals in a remarkable time. I’m really happy to see his progress and proud to be his Coach. I wish him all the best in life” she added.