About JYOTI SAWANT, GOQii Coach

A post graduate in clinical nutrition from SNDT, Mumbai, Jyoti Sawant has been working in the field of nutrition since 2007. Prior to joining GOQii she has worked with some leading hospital and also with various gyms in the city. Jyoti believes that fitness is about being disciplined in life which automatically leads one to greater success. Travelling to hill stations are good stress busters of her. Her mantra TRAIN LIKE AN ATHLETE, EAT LIKE A NUTRITIONIST, SLEEP LIKE A BABY, WIN LIKE A CHAMPION.

July 9, 2018 By JYOTI SAWANT, GOQii Coach Leave a Comment

Confused about eating healthy? Follow these 13 Strategies to eat healthy

Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and stabilizing your mood. There are loads of information and dietary advice floating out there where if an expert tells you that certain food is good for you, you’ll find another one saying exactly the opposite thus confusing you totally. But, let me give you some simple tips by which you can cut through the confusion and learn how to create a tasty, varied, and healthy food habit at work.

A healthy diet is good but, a key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. What is moderation? In essence, it means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal and not stuffed. Moderation is also about a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fibre, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body.

Simplify: Measure portion size and do not be concerned about counting calories. Think of your healthy meal in terms of colour, variety, and freshness. This way it should be easier to make a healthy choice. Focus on finding foods you love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh ingredients. Gradually, your food will become healthier and more delicious.
Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time. Trying to make your food healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on your new eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a salad (full of different colour vegetables) to your daily routine once a day or switching from peanut butter to olive oil when cooking. As this small change becomes a habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices to your lifestyle.
Every change you make matters. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate the foods you enjoy in order to have a healthy diet. Your long-term goal should be to feel good, have more energy, and reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases. Don’t let your missteps derail you—every healthy food choice you make counts.
Think Smaller Portions. Serving sizes have ballooned recently, particularly in restaurants. When dining out, choose a starter instead of an entire plate, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything. At home, use smaller plates, think about serving sizes in realistic terms, and start small. In case you are not satisfied at the end of the meal try adding more leafy green vegetables or rounding off the meal with some fresh salad. Visual cues can help with portion sizes–your serving of Egg, fish, or chicken should be the size of a deck of cards and half a cup of mashed potato, rice, or pasta is about the size of the small bowl.
Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes. Chew your food slowly, savouring every bite. We tend to rush through our meals thereby forgetting to actually taste the flavours and feel the texture of our food. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty or hungry. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.
Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals throughout the day (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up and your metabolism going.
Avoid eating at night. Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and then fast for 10-12 hours until breakfast the next morning. These simple dietary adjustments such as eating only when you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day will only help to regulate your weight. After-dinner snacks tend to be high in fat and calories, but some healthy options like mixed vegetable soup, salad, and buttermilk is good.
Most of us consume too much salt in our diets. Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure and lead to other health problems. Try to limit sodium intake to 1,500 to 2,300 mg per day which is equivalent to one teaspoon of salt.
Avoid processed or pre-packaged foods. Processed foods like canned soups or frozen dinners contain hidden sodium that quickly surpasses the recommended limit.
Be careful when eating out. Most restaurant and fast food meals are loaded with sodium. Some offer lower-sodium choices or you can ask for your meal to be made without salt. Most gravy and sauces are loaded with salt, so ask for it to be served on the side. Opt for fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned vegetables. Cut back on salty snacks such as potato chips, and nuts. Check labels and choose low-salt or reduced-sodium products, including breakfast cereals.
Slowly reduce the salt in your diet to give your taste buds some time to adjust.
Go high on Fibre – In general, the more natural and unprocessed the food, the higher it is in fibre. Good sources of fibre include whole grains, wheat cereals, barley, oatmeal, beans, nuts, vegetables such as carrots, celery, and tomatoes, and fruits such as apples, berries, citrus fruits, and pears—all the more reason to add more fruit and vegetables to your diet. There is no fibre in meat, dairy, or sugar. Refined or “white” foods, such as white bread, white rice, and pastries, have had all or most of their fibre removed. An easy way to add more fibre to your diet is to start your day with a whole grain cereal, such as Fibre-One or All-Bran, or by adding unprocessed wheat bran to your favourite cereal.

May 18, 2018 By JYOTI SAWANT, GOQii Coach 2 Comments

Healthy office-time snacks

Snacking is an important part of our diet plan. But, when one talks about snacking in the office, we are often caught in front of the vending machine discussing what to eat and what not to eat. One of the reasons people don’t stick to their healthy eating resolutions of bringing their own homemade prepared food, rather than ordering or eating out, is because of a lack of time. In this fast-paced world, fast food comes as the optimum solution.

Luckily, there are plenty of quick, easy, and inexpensive healthy snack options.

# Fat-Free Yogurt:

Greek yoghurt is fulfilling and super yummy. An ideal office snack, you should go for low-fat or skimmed milk versions of yoghurt. If you want, you can just add a dash of honey or jaggery to it. Best is to add some fresh berries, fine slice of apples and bananas to it. For all those who live outside of India, a Greek yoghurt is also a good option.

#Whole wheat crackers and peanut butter:

Pack the nutritious snack of multigrain wheat crackers and peanut butter and your healthy office nutritious snack is ready. A super hunger-curbing option, it is a fine blend of complex carbohydrates and proteins, which helps in keeping you full for longer.

#Nuts:

Grabbing a handful of nuts from the little bag in your handbag saves you the inevitable regret later on when you realize that you have binged on something unhealthy and fattening. Nuts are packed with proteins. While most other snacks are packed with carbs and other empty calories, nuts are one of the few snack items that have proteins and fill you up for a very long time.

# Fruits: Fruits provide us with the best form of natural sugars, so they are good for a snack if you are feeling low on energy in the office. Strawberries, gooseberries, oranges, apples, bananas, melons they’re all packed with antioxidants and vitamins.

# Instant oatmeal:

A plain instant oatmeal packet is a great way to indulge in something comforting, yet healthy. You can add your own flavourings and keep a tab on the calorie and sugar content. Top it with raisins or add cinnamon and nutmeg to it and your powerful healthy office snack is ready. Oatmeal is low in cholesterol and is known to reduce the risk of heart diseases.

#Stir fried veggies:

Pack a foil tray of healthy stir-fried fresh veggies like baby tomatoes, celery, carrots, beans and whatever veggie you like. Stir fried vegetables are a great way to add the much-needed dose of vitamins, minerals and fibre to your diet.

#Boiled Egg with chat masala:

This is an excellent source of protein, which will satisfy hunger and stabilize blood sugars. Eat your hard-boiled egg in the office kitchen, slice the egg in half and spread the chart masala and enjoy it.

#Low-fat Popcorn: This low-calorie snack will satisfy your craving for something salty and crunchy, and it’s also a good source of fibre.

#Protein Bar:

Be careful with these! Some protein bars are packed with calories. Check the ingredients and make sure the one you pick has fruit, nuts, and fewer than 200 calories.

The above list of healthy snacking options will help you pack one healthy office snack daily to work to keep you full and satisfied all day.

Enjoy it.

April 23, 2018 By JYOTI SAWANT, GOQii Coach Leave a Comment

Benefits of Cucumber

It’s summer-time and you should definitely not forget to pick a handful of these firm, dark green cucumbers and put them into your shopping basket. But, well do you know that you have just bought yourself a fruit (yes, this is a fruit and a not a vegetable) full of good health!

Here is a short list of the impressive health benefits that a cucumber carries with it:

Keeps you hydrated-If you are too busy to drink enough water, munch on the cool cucumber, which is 96 percent water. It will cheerfully compensate!
Fights heat, both inside and out. Eat cucumber, and your body gets relief from heartburn. Apply cucumber on your skin, and you get relief from sunburn.
Flushes out toxins.All that water in cucumber acts as a virtual broom, sweeping waste products out of your system. With regular use, cucumber is known to dissolve kidney stones.
Lavishes you with vitamins. A, B and C, which boost immunity, gives you energy, and keeps you radiant. Give it more power by juicing cucumber with carrot and spinach.
Supplies skin-friendly minerals: magnesium, potassium, silicon.That’s why cucumber-based treatments are abound in spas.
Aids in weight loss.Enjoy cucumbers in your salads and soups. My favourite snack- Crunchy cucumber sticks with creamy low-fat yogurt dip.
Revives the eyes. Placing chilled slices of cucumber on the eyes is a clichéd beauty visual, but it really helps reduce under-eye bags and puffiness.
Cuts cancer. Cut down your risk of several cancers by including cucumber in your diet. Shows its cancer-fighting potential.
Stabilizes blood pressure. Patients of blood pressure, both high and low, often find that eating cucumber brings relief.
Refreshes the mouth. Cucumber juice refreshes and heals diseased gums, leaving your mouth smelling good.
Helps digestion. Chewing cucumber gives the jaws a good workout, and the fiber in it is great for digestion.
Smooths hair and nails.Silica, the wonder mineral in cucumber makes your hair and nails stronger and shinier.
Soothes muscle and joint pain. All those vitamins and minerals in cucumber make it a powerful enemy of muscles and joint pains.
Keeps kidneys in shape. Cucumber lowers uric acid levels in your system, keeping the kidneys happy.
Good for diabetics. Patients of diabetes can enjoy cucumber while also reaping its health benefits: cucumber contains a hormone needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin.
Reduces cholesterol.A compound called sterols in cucumber helps reduce bad cholesterol.

January 21, 2018 By JYOTI SAWANT, GOQii Coach 2 Comments

Eat Healthy Stop counting Calories

I used to count calories

It was part of my training as a dietitian – one of our homework assignments. It seemed everyone in my class was really good at it like they had memorized the calorie content of a bunch of foods. I treated the project as an experiment. What I mean by that is, if this is what we’re supposed to have our patients do, I should be able to do it well.

The funny thing however was, the more I counted calories and the less I was paying attention to the food in front of me. It was like looking at a spreadsheet on a plate. All you see is numbers.

I’d choose the less tasty entree because it was lower in calories, even if it didn’t sound appealing. If I got hungry after the meal, I’d second guess myself. “But I ate 700 calories!? That should be enough!”

It was like a battle between the calculator and my stomach. The calculations said I needed a certain amount of calories per day. If I went over, it was a “bad” day. If I went under, it was an excuse to eat junk food. I’d think to myself, “Well, these chocolates are only 90 calories…”

I’ll admit, I failed miserably at counting calories and gave up within a few weeks. I never really enjoyed it and I felt restricted, what I was going to develop is ordered eating.

Making good food choices is important for everyone. As a Nutritionist and Dietitian, I believe there are two important things you can do to achieve healthylifestyle—

# Make good food choices.

# Identify habits that you can keep doing over a long period of time, which fit easily into your daily routine, and can become a sustainable part of your life (what I mean by this is no fad diets!)

How else can you start making good food choices? Let’s start with the grocery store.

Here are some tips that may help you:

# Never shop when you are hungry. You will make much better choices if you shop after you’ve had a good breakfast or lunch, or when you’re not in a rush.

# Try to spend the most of the time while shopping in the fresh fruit and vegetable section. Most of us don’t eat enough vegetables, which offer many nutritional benefits and fill you up so you can better resist the temptation of unhealthy foods. Deeply colored fruits and vegetables provide more nutrients, so be sure to eat a variety of different color produce.

# Select whole grains instead of white flour, white pasta, and white rice. Quinoa is a great grain to try because it has a lot of protein, which is not the case for many grain products.

# Choose naturally low-fat and high-fiber foods (e.g., low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, whole grain cereals).

# Know that not all oils are bad for you. Look for nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil and other healthy oils which can provide the fat you need in your diet.

# See if you can check out and exit the store without buying packaged and processed foods.

It’s simple to conclude that all you need to do is take in fewer calories than just count calories and make sure you are getting healthy fats into your diet each day.