Luke Coutinho, Author at GOQii

December 17, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

Diets or Lifestyle – Your Choice?

I have always believed that dieting does not work. In this blog today, I would like to share some amazing facts on how diets don’t work and what really does make all the difference in this weight loss game.

The basic difference between a diet mentality and a lifestyle mentality is simply a matter of perspective. Having the right perspective may not make tofu taste better than chocolate, but it can make all the difference in the world when it comes to achieving your goals and avoiding unnecessary suffering along the way and hanging onto your achievements over the long haul.

A diet is all about numbers—the number on the scale and the number of calories you eat and burn. Success is defined in terms of how well you stick to your numbers.

A lifestyle change is all about you. It’s about lining up your eating and physical activity with your real goals and desires. Success is defined in terms of how these changes make you feel about yourself.

The diet mentality assumes that reaching a certain weight is the key to finding happiness and solving other problems. That’s why messing up the numbers on any given day can be so upsetting—it means you’ve messed up on just about everything that really matters.

The lifestyle approach assumes that being overweight is usually the result of other problems, not the cause. Addressing these problems directly is the best way to solve both the problems themselves and your weight issues.

You can do this by focusing on many things, not just the numbers on the scale or the Nutrition Tracker. Numbers only tell a small part of the story, and “bad” numbers often provide good clues into areas that need attention.

Going on a diet involves an external and temporary change in eating technique. You start counting and measuring, and you stop eating some foods and substitute others, based on the rules of whatever diet plan you are using. Maybe you can throw in some exercise to burn a few extra calories. You assume that it’s the technique that produces the results, not you.

The results of a diet are external; if you’re lucky, you may change on the outside—but not on the inside. Once you reach your goal weight, you don’t need the technique anymore, and things gradually go back to “normal.” So does your weight….. And, of course, all the problems you hoped the weight loss would solve are still there.Making a lifestyle change involves an internal and permanent change in your relationship with food, eating, and physical activity. You recognize that the primary problem isn’t what you eat, or even how much you eat, but how and why you eat.

Eating mindlessly and impulsively (without intention or awareness) and/or using food to manage your emotions and distract yourself from unpleasant thoughts—this is what really needs to change.

Learning to take good care of yourself emotionally, physically, and spiritually—so that you don’t want to use eating to solve problems it is really the lifestyle change that matters and is a lifelong learning process that is constantly changing as your needs and circumstances change. This doesn’t mean the surface level things don’t matter.

Clearly, controlling how much and what you eat is vital, and caring how you look is a great motivator. The key to both permanent weight loss and feeling satisfied and happy with yourself and your life is to take personal responsibility for what you can control, and let go of everything else.

And when you rely too much on external (diet) tools, techniques, and rules to determine your behavior, you are turning over your personal responsibility to the tools and techniques.

If you find yourself frequently losing motivation or feeling powerless to control your own behavior, it’s probably because you’re counting on the tools to do your part of the work for you.

You’re the only one who can decide what’s right for you; only you can change your attitude and perspective to match your personal reality.

August 20, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

Use this tool to eat Right and Lose Weight

The concept of weight gain and weight loss will always remain the same, irrespective of any new theories on molecular science and diet, blood group diets, fad exercise programs, restrictive diets etc.

‘ Your body will only use how much it needs of the food you eat, for it’s functions Anything extra will get stored away, leading to possible fat gain’.

If you are very hungry, and your only option is a slice of pizza, you should eat it. Your body will break it down for the energy it needs.

What it may not be able to do is break down a couple of slices of pizza, with a portion of pasta and a tiramisu. It may if you’ve just burnt like 1500 cals and your body is craving replenishment of energy.

It is all about controlling your food portions. How much is enough for your body?

Only you can tell by being aware. Eating 2-3 rotis at night or at lunch is probably out of habit. It’s what you have done since you were growing up. But the situations are different. You ate more when you were probably more active and younger with a quicker metabolism.

Things change. Everything changes, including the way your body works and breaks down food, year on year.

What if your body really can do with just 1 roti instead of 3?

What if your body can do with a small scoop of ice cream instead of a large or super-sized portion?

What if you really don’t need 6 small meals in a day?

What if you could still enjoy your dessert or piece of cake, but share it, so you don’t get into a deprivation mode?

Most humans eat more than their bodies require. Especially with the massive choice of culinary delights available, the eye appealing desserts, the way food is plated etc…it works on our minds to a level that we crave it. And that’s OK. I love good food too, who doesn’t.

The problem is, we eat too much of it and there reaches a point when the body does not know what to do with the crazy amounts of food we eat, so when you see your belly/tummy, mid riff, waist starting to expand, that’s your body telling you, ‘ you are eating too much’ OR

‘ Your not exercising sufficiently, your not using all this excess energy that you are feeding me ‘

And what takes months or even years to develop into abdominal fat, as humans we always want things to happen for us quickly. Instant gratification, Instant results, and then we get crazy and desperate to lose that tummy, choosing options that can create more harm than good for the other parts of our body.

We get into intensive exercises, and damage our knees and backs..we get on crazy diets and lose a little weight along with bone density, and key nutrients.

PORTION CONTROL is difficult, yet the easiest way to lose weight, keep it off and moreover, it’s a lifestyle change, something that can change this whole obesity epidemic. We all struggle with food. This may be the solution to eating our favorite food, yet controlling the portions and being fair to our bodies.

When my friend Vishal Gondal brought back a portion control plate from the U.S to show the entire GOQii team, I had a look at it and realized, this is what India needs.

Such a simple tool that will teach people how to eat, How much to eat without feeling deprived.

It can teach children all about the right portions that they should serve themselves, and I envision families using this portion control plate to serve themselves and build a culture of eating clean and right.

I used one for a month, serving myself everyday using this portion plate and at first I thought the quantity was too less, but quickly figured I was eating more than I needed. I used a 1 cup portion serving for a few days and then cut back to a half cup serving at dinner.

Like all habits, it took a few days getting used to, but all I can say now is, I am eating lesser for sure and I don’t feel hungry after doing this.

It beats all fat loss pills, which anyway never work. This teaches you to eat the right way and anything that works towards making a shift in your lifestyle, is worth it, is sustainable and is the right way to go.

Once you get into the habit of controlling your portions and knowing how much your body really needs, you then begin to automatically apply the same when you eat out.

You can try this simple yet effective tool to change the way you eat and control or lose weight.

Moreover, using this will ensure you eat a balanced meal of carbs, protein, fats and veggies.

Get it at: http://purenutrition.co.in/meal-measure.html

August 11, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

Nutrition – Exercise – Rest – Attitude

Lower back pain?

Degeneration of the spine?

Lumbar disc problems?

Joint pain?

Body aches?

The common solution is popping a calcium or D3 supplement. It’s true though, a deficiency of these vitamins can cause all of the above, but there are many ways of looking at this.

You can be popping the best brand of supplements, but remember, it just does not work that way.

For calcium to get absorbed into the bones, your D3 levels have to be adequate. If it’s not, your calcium supplement is being wasted, so are the foods rich in calcium that you are consuming.

Furthermore, Vitamin K is such an ignored vitamin, but you should know, Vitamin K is needed for the bones to absorb Calcium. Vitamin K is found in dairy products and green leafy veggies.

So here’s how it works. For strong and healthy bones, joints and a super strong spine, you need sufficient calcium, D3 and Vitamin K for it to work effectively.

I should add in B12 as B12 is necessary for healthy bone marrow, and for the body and spine to grow sting and healthy.

Calcium, Vitamin K, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D3

A balanced diet should give you all of that.

Apart from nutrition, have a look at the points below.

Regular and smart exercise

Stretching , warm up and cool downs

Knowing your tiger muscles and working on flexibility

DO NOT SIT IN ONE PLACE FOR MORE THAN 30-45 MINUTES.

This is too much strain and stress on your lower back/sacrum and it leads to lower back, sciatica and lower body aches and pains.

Look for nutrition in fresh and real foods. Supplement only if you have to and if you have a deficiency.

The choice of preventing or healing yourself from pains as such, is all up to you. Nutrition – Exercise – Rest – Attitude

July 1, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

Inflammation –What you should know

When you think pain, think inflammation.   Inflammation is a good thing. It’s your body’s way of rising up to fight out germs/bacteria/infections, heal bruises when you fall, heal torn ligaments/tissues/tendons etc. Once it does its job of fighting out these invaders or foreign organisms, the inflammation should reduce back down to normal. The problem arises when that does not happen.

Have a torn ligament or muscle pulls that your struggling to heal? Seen the best doctors, therapists etc and still not fixed? Struggling with arthritis and joint pain? Check your CRP (C-Reactive protein) levels and focus on reducing inflammation. The cure is in reducing inflammation.

Many of us live with chronic inflammation and that’s dangerous. It’s also one of the reason people –struggle to lose weight, experience excruciating joint pains, age faster than normal feel tired through the day, higher chances of cancer and heart disease, Fibromalgia / Headaches/Migraines, higher chances of Alzheimer’s/dementia, struggle with diabetes, feel depressed and low.

Silent inflammation like the ones described above can destroy your nerves and cellular health, suppressing and weakening your immune system, leading to deadly diseases like cancer, etc.  

What’s scary is the fact that you can be extremely healthy and fit, but silent inflammation could be eating into you from inside, which is one of the many explainable reasons why cancer or heart attacks can strike down a healthy and young human being. Checking cholesterol levels, Vitamin D3, B12, SGOT, SGTP is imperative, but what most people miss out on is checking their CRP levels. (C-Reactive protein). This is an important protein level to check and a simple blood test will cover that for you. This level will tell you volumes about the amount of inflammation you have in your body.

In my years of experience what stands out in a cancer report of a person is an increase in CRP levels and white blood cells and the immediate action is to reduce inflammation thru food and lifestyle change. Diseases breathe in inflamed environments, in environments that are acidic and in environments where there is less oxygen supply to the cells.

Over training causes inflammation. Vigorous exercise, inconsistent exercise and high intensity training which is not planned for your body type will make your CRP levels soar and kill your immunity, which is why many trainers ask their clients to take a Vitamin C and E post workouts.

Running marathons without proper nutrition causes massive inflammation. Stress causes inflammation (chronic stress). Improper nutrition (high fat foods, sugar, artificial sweeteners, doughnuts, white sugar, aerated drinks, salty foods, packaged foods), and Smoking causes inflammation. (I’ve seen CRP levels fall in a smokers’ blood report within 10 days of kicking the butt)  

How to keep your inflammation in check:

Smart and moderate exercise such as meditation and controlling your stress and BP levels, nuts and seeds, green leafy veggies and fruits, good fats ( like nuts, olive oil, coconut oil) helps in keeping your inflammation under check. Finally, I should not be saying this but it has been proven that a small amount of alcohol can actually lower CRP levels. Vitamin D3 , Curcumin (turmeric extract) is one of the best spice based inflammation fighters.