About Madhu Soni

Madhu Soni has a Bachelors' in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics. It is during her college days that she realised how stress can play havoc in your life and how small and simple habits can restore back the lost glory. She strongly believes that health is wealth and small changes in habits can go a long way in life. Her health mantra is, “Remember when the body is hungry, it wants nutrition and not calories.”

July 5, 2021 By Madhu Soni Leave a Comment

How To Fight Junk Food Cravings While Working From Home

While working from home, it’s quite easy to get swayed by all the delivery options we have around home. That favorite fast food chain, greasy burgers at the corner of the road and pizzas with extra cheese! Sounds breathtakingly delicious but gorging on all this junk food can be detrimental to your health. When we indulge in junk food, especially at home where we get little to no physical activity, our body gets a sense of pleasure, often due to the salty or sweet nature of these foods. The neurotransmitters of our brain make us want to keep coming back for more. So how can you fight junk food cravings?

Simple Tips To Fight Junk Food Cravings

Whether you’re working from home or you’re back at the office, here are some simple tricks to help you avoid these cravings.

No skipping meals: The work from home scenario has led to irregular eating habits. When the stomach growls with hunger, we automatically reach out for our phones and end up ordering for food. Sticking to preparing and eating food at the same time every day can help you manage these cravings effectively.
Stock healthy food: like fruits and dry fruits. Have dates and anjeer if you have a sweet craving and popcorn and makhana for salty cravings. When healthy food is available , you will eat healthy. In fact, try this Ultimate Healthy Chivda recipe!
Soups: Soup is a perfect blend of health and taste. Since it contains a good amount of stock, it helps to bring satiety. A hot cup of soup in the evening is a good way to curb hunger and avoid junk food. You can try some of these Healthy Soup Recipes!
Protein rich food: One of the lesser known reasons for that unsatisfied hunger pangs is lack of protein in the diet. Most junk food is made up of simple carbs which fills as well as empties the stomach quickly. Protein on the other hand, provides fullness and as a result, we can easily ride over that wave of junk food craving. Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and eggs are protein rich snacks.
Hydration: There’s a difference between hunger and thirst. Majority of the time when hunger strikes, it could just be thirst.
Stress: can be a major underlying factor for faulty eating habits. If we fix the stress part first, junk food cravings will be easy to manage.
Sleep: When we are deprived of sleep, the craving for junk food increases. So catching up with 6-7 hours of sleep on a daily basis, and not just weekends, can go a long way in controlling these unwanted urges to eat and overeat.

Try these tips to fight junk food cravings and we’re sure you will see visible changes to your health and lifestyle. Small, consistent efforts go a long way. Do let us know if this helped in the comments below!

For more tips on living healthy, check out Healthy Reads or join our team of experts on GOQii Play. To get these tips and tricks directly from a certified expert, subscribe to get your own GOQii Coach here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Eat Healthy & #BeTheForce

June 21, 2021 By Madhu Soni Leave a Comment

Working From Home? 5 Simple Stretches You Must Do!

With more of us working from home now, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s bound to be excessive hours where we’re seated and glued to work, chasing tight deadlines. Long sitting hours can have detrimental repercussions on our health like stiffness in the back, shoulder, knees, ankles and low circulation leading to low metabolism as well to name a few. While the work from home routine is here to stay for a while, these aches and pains can be avoided or resolved through simple stretching. It’s like an antidote to combat the ill effects of continuous sitting. So if your chair has held you hostage long enough, here are 5 simple stretches you can do to keep yourself healthy.

5 Simple Stretches To Do While Working From Home

1. Chest Opener
How this helps: Extended sitting time can weaken the spine and cause dropping shoulders. This reduces upper back and neck stiffness.
How to do it: Stand with feet shoulder distance apart, firmly hold a towel or scarf with both hands behind your back. Slowly raise your arms up as far as you can and stretch your shoulders while doing this.

2. Downward Dog Pose
How this helps: This stretch provides relief from back ache and strengthens the arms and legs. It energizes the body and helps to reduce fatigue.
How to do it: Stand tall with both hands up in the air, bend down to touch the palms on the floor without bending the knees. The hands should be shoulder distance apart. The feet should be flat on the ground and gaze at your navel.

3. Back Bend Stretch
How this helps: This helps with better posture and supports the back muscles.
How to do it : Stand tall with feet shoulder distance apart and clasp your hands above your head and stretch back. For greater level of stretch, you can place your palms on the wall while stretching backwards and look up at the ceiling.

4. Glute Bridge
How this helps: This reduces lower back pain, provides a good stretch to the hamstring and activates the glutes.
How to do it: Lie on the mat on your back, legs folded at 90 degrees and feet firmly placed on the floor. Now lift your hips from the floor till your lower back is above ground. Hold on and gently come down.

5. Reclining Back Bend
How this helps: It stretches the shoulders, chest and abdomen. It also strengthens the spine and soothes the sciatica nerve.
How to do it: Lie down on your stomach, with palms placed firmly on the ground next to your chest. Lift your upper body till the navel and look at the ceiling.

That’s it! That’s all you need to do. You can try these 5 simple stretches while taking a break from work. You can do these anywhere! We hope this article helps you and you try these stretches. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you feel like sharing these stretches, take a video, upload it on your social media channels and tag us!

For more on fitness and home workouts, check out Healthy Reads or join our fitness experts on GOQii Play or get your pass for a LIVE GOQii PRO workout class – all within the GOQii App.

To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

#BeTheForce

June 3, 2021 By Madhu Soni 4 Comments

Fun Ways To Stay Fit At Home

While we’re again in a lockdown due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, what most of us are overlooking is the impact of this period on our health. “Sitting is the new smoking” and quite rightly so! Watch your favorite shows, movie marathons, staying glued to the cellphone can all keep you occupied but can also make you mentally and physically unfit! So here are some simple and fun ways to stay fit at home! You can try these fun workouts with your entire family, including your kids!

6 Fun Ways to Stay Fit at Home

1. Plyometrics at Home
Yes! You read it right; Plyometric Exercise can be fun with all the family members. You can place 6 water bottles in a straight line with a gap of 2 feet between them. Ask all the members to form a line begin the workouts:

Do the snake walk without touching the bottles
Jump over the bottles
Jumping over the bottles again but this time turn to your right and jump and then turn to your left and jump.
Jump over the bottles and clap your hands in the air above your shoulders.
Come in the plank position such that you are in between two bottles and your body is completely on your toes and palms. Reach till the last bottle.

2. Partner Workouts

Both the partners are facing back (touching each other’s back); one partner has a bottle of water and will pass it to the other partner by just turning his waist. At the end of 60 seconds the one who has a bottle of water in their hands is the winner.
Both the partners are facing back but this time feet are shoulder distance apart and the box of popcorns will pass by bending the back and the receiving partner too has to bend down to take it.
Lie down on the floor such that both the partners are touching each other’s feet sole. Now do cycling 20 times clockwise and anti-clockwise.

3. Hula Hoop
This is favourite among children. Besides just twisting and rotating your waist, you can also do variations like a cross over the loops without touching any body part.

4. Skipping
Skipping is a great way to keep kids and grown-ups happy and engaged. You can do partner skipping, cross skipping and reverse skipping.

5. Dancing
Dancing is also a great form of workout. We live in a land of vast dance forms, so choose your pick from Bangra to Garba to Bollywood! You can have a small dance competition amongst the family members. Encourage the use of props like sticks or chairs which will need more effort.

6. Spell your name
Just spell your name and do these workouts. You can also spell days of the week.

Image courtesy @ Brightside

Hope you enjoy these fun ways to stay fit at home with your family during quarantine. Let us know your experience or your mantra to staying fit indoors, in the comments below. For more exciting and fun home workouts, tune in to GOQii Play. For more on fitness, check out Healthy Reads.

To get these tips and tricks directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

Stay indoors, stay safe and #BeTheForce

May 22, 2021 By Madhu Soni Leave a Comment

Recipes With Seasonal Vegetables

If you’ve been sitting at home for too long, trying to cool yourselves under ACs and fans, there’s a simple way to maintain body heat and that’s food! Seasonal vegetables and fruits are loaded with micronutrients which not only help you stay hydrated but healthy as well – a much needed benefit for the current times. Let’s try these 2 recipes with vegetables still available in the market!

Healthy Recipes With Seasonal Vegetables

1. Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Leek – 1, white part only – finely sliced
Garlic clove – 1 crushed
Ground coriander – ½ tsp
Ground cumin – 1 tsp
Freshly grated nutmeg – ½ tsp
Peeled pumpkin – 1kg diced
Potato – 1kg peeled and diced
Vegetable liquid stock – 1L
Thin cream – ½ cup (125ml)

Method:

Heat oil in a large saucepan on low heat, add the onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not colored.
Add garlic and spices. Cook while stirring for 30 seconds.
Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to boil.
Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, and then blend in batches.
Return the soup to a pan, stir through cream and reheat gently.
Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

2. Brin Baba Ganoush

Ingredients:

Egg plant – 2 large
Garlic clove – 2-3
Tahini paste – 3-4 tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Yogurt – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Olive oil – 4-5 tsp
Finely chopped parsley and olives to garnish.

Method:

Roast the egg plant directly on flame till it becomes soft and tender. Remove the peel and mash the pulp.
Run this pulp in a mixer, add garlic, tahini paste, lemon juice, yogurt, salt to taste and half the quantity of oil. Remove it in a serving bowl.
Garnish with finely chopped parsley, red chili flakes, olives and olive oil.
Baba Ganoush can be served with multigrain bread, pita bread or veggies. You can also add finely chopped onions and tomatoes.

We hope you enjoy these recipes with seasonal vegetables. Do try them out, upload your pics on social media or the GOQii Arena and tag us! For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE cooking sessions on GOQii Play.

To get more advice on recipes, nutrition and diet tips, subscribe to GOQii and ask your GOQii Coach: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

Eat Healthy, Stay Home, Stay Safe and #BeTheForce