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About Neha Goyal

Neha Goyal is passionate about keeping herself healthy and educating others about the same. She believes that a fit and healthy body is our greatest asset. Being a post-graduate in Nutrition, she promotes healthy living and eating. She is also a REEBOK certified aerobics instructor. According to her, health is a relationship between you and your body, and you have to take full responsibility for the same. Her health mantra is, "Eat mindfully, sleep soundly, and stay active as much as you can, so that you age gracefully"

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5 Healthy Recipes For Janmashtami

healthy janmashtami recipes Janmashtami marks the birth of Lord Krishna. It is celebrated all over India with vigor and zeal. Devotees of Lord Krishna observe a fast and offer Puja to the Lord. Most people observe a fast religiously without even drinking a single drop of water while others do the same with various considerations. So, here are a few Healthy Janmashtami Recipes for people who observe the Phalahar kind of fast, while keeping healthy eating in mind.

1. Sago Uttapam

Ingredients:

  • Soaked Sago (Sabudana) – ½ cup
  • Water Chestnut Flour (Singhara Atta) – ½ cup
  • Curd – ½ cup
  • Boiled Potato, Chopped Tomato – 1 each
  • Grated Carrot – ½ cup
  • Grated Paneer – ½ cup
  • 2 green chilly chopped
  • Ginger (grated) – ½ inch
  • Chopped Coriander Leaves
  • Ghee or Coconut Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Sea salt to taste

Method:

  1. Grind sago, boiled potato & curd together in a blender.
  2. Mix Singhara Atta into this & make a smooth batter. You can mix water to adjust consistency of this batter. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Now add salt in the batter & heat a nonstick pan. Pour few drops of oil/ghee on pan & spread Uttapam batter in desired thickness.
  4. Sprinkle vegetables over Uttapam & let it cook from one side. After few minutes, flip it & let it cook from another side as well.
  5. Your healthy Uttapam is ready.

2. Creamy Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:

  • Fresh Grated Coconut – 1 cup
  • Roasted Peanuts – ¼ cup
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 3-4 Green Chillies
  • Chopped Coriander Leaves – ¼ cup
  • Curry Leaves – 10 to 12
  • Hung Curd – 2 to 3 tbsp
  • Water as required

Method:

  1. Blend all the ingredients in a mixer until you get a smooth paste
  2. Add 2-3 tbsp of water at a time.
  3. Your creamy coconut chutney is ready to have with the Uttapam.

3. Fruity Delight

Ingredients:

  • Low Fat Hung Curd – 1 cup
  • Pomegranate Seeds – ½ cup
  • Fruits (Banana, Apple, Pear) – 1 of each
  • Pineapple – ½ cup
  • 10-12 cashews
  • Cardamom Powder – ¼ tsp
  • Honey – 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

  1. First chop banana, apple, pear & cashews & keep aside.
  2. Whisk hung curd with cardamom powder & honey in a bowl.
  3. Add all fruits & chopped cashews.
  4. Keep in fridge for half an hour before serving.

4. Carrot and Dates Kheer

Ingredients:

  • Skimmed Milk – 1 glass
  • 2-3 Dates (chopped)
  • 4-5 chopped Cashew
  • Grated Carrot – 2 tbsp
  • 1 pinch Cardamom powder

Method:

  1. Boil milk in a deep pan & add dates & carrot.
  2. In another pan dry roast cashews & keep aside.
  3. Let the milk simmer at low flame till it reduces to half. Keep stirring in between.
  4. Let it cool a little & then add cardamom powder & roasted cashew. Serve warm.

5. Paneer Rolls

Ingredients:

  • 2 Boiled & Grated Potato
  • Grated Paneer – 2 cups
  • 1 Green Chilly Chopped
  • Chopped Ginger – ½ tsp
  • Black Pepper Powder – ½ tsp
  • 7-8 Raisins Chopped
  • Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp
  • Chopped Coriander Leaves – 2 tbsp
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tsp Ghee

Method:

  1. Take boiled potato & paneer in a bowl. Add green chilly, ginger, black pepper powder, raisins, cardamom powder, coriander leaves & salt.
  2. Mix all ingredients well and make a dough.
  3. Make rolls of desired size out of dough & keep aside.
  4. Heat a nonstick pan & grease it with some ghee. Now place the rolls in pan & fry till they get golden brown.
  5. Keep turning them a little so they cook evenly. Serve hot.

Highlights of the Healthy Janmashtami Recipes

  • All the recipes have a good mix of carbohydrate, protein & healthy fats.
  • Fruits, dry fruits or veggies provides vitamins & minerals.
  • Preparing all these recipes this Janmashtami can make a complete thali with variety of flavors.

Do try these healthy recipes & enjoy a guilt free feast on Janmashtami in controlled portions. Do tell us which one you liked the most in the comments below! To get these Healthy Recipes directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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Healthy Eating: Schezwan Dosa

schezwan dosa

Most of us are avoiding that delectable street food thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as it being the monsoons. But, what can we do in those tiny moments of weakness when we crave it more during the rains? It’s only natural to feel this way after braving the scorching summer heat and facing the drop in temperature which makes our body crave for some nice warm, cozy, comfort food. While it may sound like a legitimate reason to indulge, let’s keep in mind that it needs to be healthy too! So here’s a mouthwatering street food recipe with a healthy twist – let’s learn to make some Schezwan Dosa! 

What You Will Need 

For Dosa:

  • Semolina – ½ cup 
  • Rice Flour – ½ cup 
  • Multigrain flour – ½ cup 
  • Curd – 1 cup 
  • Flaxseed powder – 1 tbsp 
  • Salt to taste 
  • Schezwan sauce – 2 tbsp 
  • Oil for cooking

For Stuffing: 

  • Oil – 2 tsp 
  • Chopped garlic – 1 tsp 
  • Spring onion – ¼ cup 
  • Carrot – ¼ cup 
  • Cabbage and capsicum – thin juliennes 
  • Schezwan sauce – 1 tbsp 
  • Salt to taste 
  • Lemon juice – 1 tsp 
  • Chopped Coriander – ¼ cup 

How To Prepare the Schezwan Dosa

  1. First, grind the Semolina into fine powder. 
  2. Now mix the rice flour, semolina powder, multigrain flour, flaxseed powder and curd together. 
  3. Whisk it and make a pouring consistency batter adding water. 
  4. Keep it aside for 15-20 minutes. Then add salt and whisk the batter once more.
  5. For the stuffing, heat oil in a pan and add all the vegetables along with salt. Sauté for 2-3 minutes. 
  6. Now add the schezwan sauce and lemon juice. Turn the gas off and cover the pan for 2 minutes.
  7. For the dosa, first heat a dosa tawa and spread a ladle full batter. Spread it over to get a round dosa. 
  8. Let it cook till the edges get light golden brown. 
  9. Now spread some schezwan sauce over the dosa and put the vegetable stuffing over it.
  10. By this time, the dosa is crispy and golden brown. Sprinkle some freshly chopped coriander leaves and fold the dosa over. 
  11. Serve hot with any sauce or chutney of your choice.

We’re sure you’ll enjoy this tasty, nutritious and delicious fusion of South Indian and Chinese cuisine, bringing back some of your fondest monsoon memories without compromising your health. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 

For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to cooking sessions on GOQii Play. You can also purchase some all natural, healthy Schezwan Sauce from the GOQii Health Store within the GOQii app for a discount using your GOQii Cash! 

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All About Digital Detox: Part 2

digital detoxYou might have understood the basic idea about digital detox in the first part of this article. In this part, I’ll be sharing how you can actually digitally detox! I promise, after reading this, you will definitely want to give it a try. 

What Happens To Your Brain and Body During a Detox? 

Here are some good things that you can expect during a digital detox:

  • Spending some time away from your phone that regularly beeps can result in a calmer state of mind.
  • Staying away from social media can make you more productive and your memory power may improve.
  • Your mind will be more clear & focused.
  • You may have lower anxiety & stress levels.
  • Growing awareness about how you use technology.
  • Improvement in sleep quality.
  • Better posture & reduced tech neck.
  • Improved social life as you connect with people in reality & eye contact will become a thing again.
  • Better engagement with yourself and the world around you.

Challenges You Might Face 

  • It will be uncomfortable at first as you might feel alone or disconnected.
  • The thought of quitting the digital detox will fill your mind recurrently, but it will lessen over time.
  • You may feel you are missing out even if there is nothing to miss out on other than pictures & gossips.
  • Boredom will try to deter you as you might feel uncomfortable without having something to do.
  • You might feel unproductive at first.
  • Other people may directly or indirectly pressure you to quit.
  • You might find it challenging to go out without a phone.

Easy Steps To Do A Digital Detox 

For many of us, quitting gadgets completely is not at all possible. But here are few practical and easy ways you can try to have a taste of digital detox.

  1. First step in your digital detox journey can be observation of your daily digital involvement time. This will reinforce you to make a change and unplug.
  2. Clean your device. Delete old apps and social media accounts.
  3. Have a device free morning. Do not check your phone as soon as you wake up. In fact, keep your phone away during bedtime.
  4. Choose a day in a week when you will stay away from gadgets. On this day, focus more on health, meditation and spend time with family.
  5. Turn off notifications as they distract you constantly. Set a time for checking messages, emails and notifications.
  6. While reading, eating and doing some work when you need to focus, keep your phone out of sight in another room, or turn it on silent or vibration mode.

How Do You Ensure Digital Detox Success? 

  • Consider doing it during vacation or start with weekends if you have a technology focused job.
  • Commit loudly: Let your family & friends know that you will not be available on social media during a particular period of time & ask for their help & support.
  • Fill the void: Plan, in advance, some ways to stay distracted and some other activities/ hobbies in hand to keep you busy.
  • To reduce temptation and easy access, delete social media apps from your phone.
  • Keep a track of your progress and write down your thoughts & experiences.
  • Plan for real meetings with your friends and family or simply go for a walk when you feel most tempted to use your gadgets.

Going device free might be a bit uncomfortable at first, but if you can just start doing it, you will find it much more rewarding. So try this detox over the coming weekend and share your feedback in the comments below! 

For more tips on improving mental health, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, sign up for our personal coaching service now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

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All About Digital Detox: Part 1

digital detoxWe all know that a healthy work life balance is not only important for our health & relationships, but it also has a great impact on our productivity & day to day performance. But in the past few years, the inability to separate work from home has massively increased as we are constantly in touch with each other via mobile phones & laptops. During the ongoing pandemic, our gadgets made it easy for us to continue our work from where we are, but with excess usage, it is proving to be detrimental to our physical as well as mental health too. In recent research, it has been found that overuse of gadgets is increasing depression, anxiety & restlessness in people. Now this calls for a break from this tech savvy world through digital detox. Wondering what exactly it is? Let’s find out! 

What Is Digital Detox? 

Digital detox, in simple terms, is a time frame when you voluntarily stay away from your gadgets like smartphones, laptops & social media. It can be whatever you want it to be. One might try giving up usage of all digital devices at once for a specific time period. In other cases, one might just focus on restricting their use of one type of digital device like their smartphone.

Reasons To Do It 

Digital detox can be a way to set limits & reduce following negative outcomes due to heavy usage of devices:

  • While people often feel that spending time with their devices can be a stress buster after a long and tiring day, the truth is that it can greatly contribute to stress.
  • Researchers have proved that prolonged use of devices around bed time can interfere with sleep quality & quantity. It can lead to issues like insomnia, anxiety & shorter sleep duration.
  • Heavy usage of devices can decrease your attention span as they create unwanted distractions.
  • Constant connectivity with the world around, makes us feel disconnected with ourselves & affects work life balance too.
  • Comparison of your life with that of others, based on curated glimpses we see on someone’s instagram or facebook post, can make it hard to be content.
  • Digital connectivity can feed the fear of missing out. It can lead a person to feel that their life is less exciting than others.

Signs That You Might Need It 

  • Feeling anxiety or stress if the phone is not around for a while or when the battery is discharged.
  • Feeling compelled to check the phone every now & then.
  • Depression, anxiety or anger after spending time on social media.
  • Overthinking about likes, comments & shares on social posts.
  • Feeling afraid of missing out on something if the phone is not checked after every few minutes.
  • Inability to resist using the phone till late hours.
  • Trouble concentrating on one thing without having to check the phone.

Does Digital Detox Work? 

Many psychologists & mental health experts agree that digital detox can be a helpful approach to technology overuse. However, one time detox might not help you get back into your groove mentally & emotionally. Rather, it is probably one of the most effective tools if it is used as a way to kickstart a healthier relationship with technology.

Now that’s not all about digital detox. To understand how digital detox helps, what happens to your body & brain during a digital detox and challenges you might face as well as easy ways to do a digital detox, watch out for part 2 of this article! 

We hope this helps you understand what a digital detox is and why it is necessary. For more on wellness and mental health, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. To get these tips and hacks directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu 

#BeTheForce 

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