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"

April 10, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

Healthy Eating: High Protein Hariyali Appe

Green veggies are available throughout the year and these veggies can really help you boost your mood. But, apart from boosting your mood, what if these greens gave you a high protein boost? Let’s try making these delicious, crispy on the outside yet warm and tender on the inside, high protein Hariyali Appe that will help kickstart your mornings!

What You Will Need

Semolina (Suji) – 1½ cup
Green peas – 1 cup
Curd – ¾ cup
Cashews – 8-10
Oil for tempering – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Chopped green chilly – 1 tsp
Grated ginger – 2 tsp
Baking soda (optional) – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Water as required

How To Prepare

Soak green peas and cashews for 10 minutes, then grind these using ¼ cup water.
In a bowl, take semolina, add curd, green peas paste, green chilly, ginger and salt. Mix everything together to make a smooth batter using water as required.
Heat the oil in a tadka pan and add the cumin seeds. When it starts crackling, switch the flame off and add asafoetida.
Add this tempering in the batter and mix everything together. Keep this batter aside for 15-20 minutes.
Check the consistency of the batter once again and add more water if required.
Heat the appe mould on medium flame. Pour a spoonful of batter in each cavity and cover the pan to let the Appe steam nicely while getting crisp from the bottom.
Flip & cook the other side as well but don’t cover it this time.
Remove from the pan and serve hot with green or coconut chutney.

Highlights and Tips For The Hariyali Appe Recipe

This recipe is high in protein and fiber – it makes a perfect choice for those who are looking for vegetarian recipes providing enough protein.
Just like regular Appe, you can add more chopped veggies of your choice to make it more fiber rich.
You can also use ⅓ Dalia powder or multigrain atta to replace semolina in this recipe.

We hope you enjoy this high protein Hariyali Appe recipe! Do try it out and share your experience in the comments below or share it on social media, tagging GOQii. For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE cooking sessions on GOQii Play.

Eat healthy and #BeTheForce

March 15, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

How To Correct Your Posture At Work

You all must have heard that sitting is new smoking. You might have also started experiencing this in your life since the pandemic, where you might have been inactive and sitting in front of the laptop for long hours. People are getting more backaches and cervical issues due to long sitting hours, majorly due to bad posture. While you may not be able to swap your job to lead an active lifestyle, there is one thing that you can start doing right now and that is correct your posture, especially while sitting.

How Can You Correct Your Posture?

Good posture is when your muscles and ligaments that support your back and neck have to bear the least amount of strain while sitting. Besides standing and walking as much as possible, and taking a few breaks from sitting at the desk, the next best thing one can do is to have an excellent sitting posture.

The very first step to find and correct your posture is to adjust your desk height for your eyes to look ahead on your computer screen without the need of flexing your neck to see your work.
Your ears should be in the same line as your shoulder which means no leaning forward.
Roll and pull back your shoulders to avoid protracting your shoulders.
Your feet should be flat on the floor. Neither tucked under the chair, nor stretched out too far away in front of you. Do not cross your legs either.
Your weight should be evenly spread over both of the hips & lower back. The buttocks should touch the back of the chair.
Natural back curve should be maintained all the time. One can also place a rolled-up towel or lumbar roll.
Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle or can be slightly higher than hip level. You can also place a low stool below your feet.

Some Additional Tips

While sitting in a chair that rolls or pivots, rather than twisting at the waist, turn the whole body to prevent any jerks.
When standing up from a chair, first move to the front of the chair and then stand up by straightening your legs.
Try to avoid sitting for longer hours at a stretch in the same position.
Keep frequently used objects within close reach.
Keep the keyboard in the right position so as to leave a gap of 4-6 inch between the edge of the keyboard and the table so your wrists can rest while you type something.

Long Term Approach

Knowing what’s right is definitely the first step if you want to improve your posture, but this is not a one time thing. It does take work and dedication on a regular basis along with some lifestyle changes to improve your posture in the long run.

When you walk, stand, sit or run, make sure you are practicing good posture. If you notice that you are slouching or returning to old bad posture, correct your alignment right away.
If you are carrying around some extra weight, try to shed that as having the right body weight for height can do a lot to improve your posture.
Practice stretching regularly to ease up stiffness in the muscles that develop due to staying in the same posture for a long time, whether it’s prolonged standing or sitting.
Make strengthening exercises a part of your routine as it will improve muscle power to fight gravity and keep you upright in proper posture.

We hope this article will help you correct your posture. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below! For more tips, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#BeTheForce

February 26, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

7 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Caffeinated Drinks During Winter

Caffeine is a natural stimulant most commonly found in tea, coffee and cacao plants. Billions of people rely on caffeine to start their day and to get through their night shift or afternoon slump. It works by stimulating the brain and the central nervous system, helping you stay alert, reducing the onset of tiredness. Nothing is as comforting on a chilly morning as a hot cup of tea with a cozy blanket. For most people, intake of these caffeinated drinks increases during winter as they believe it provides warmth to beat the cold. But is that really so? Is there a reason to avoid caffeinated drinks? Let’s find out!

How Caffeine Works

While caffeine is considered safe, drinking too much raises some concerns. When you drink any caffeinated drink, your gut absorbs it very quickly and sends it to your bloodstream. From there, as it reaches your brain, it starts blocking the effects of a neurotransmitter called adenosine. Adenosine relaxes your brain and makes you feel tired. So by blocking its receptors, caffeine helps you stay awake and alert. But with alertness comes anxiety as well. At the same time, caffeine also stimulates our stress or “fight & flight” hormones.

Reasons To Avoid Caffeinated Drinks During Winter

Dehydration: During winter, most people feel less thirsty and their water intake automatically reduces. All caffeinated drinks are diuretic and tend to flush out water from the body through urine, making it deficient in not just water but also vitamins and minerals that are required for the smooth functioning of the body.
Amplified Heart Rate and Blood Pressure: Winter is not a good time for people with heart conditions and high blood pressure. They are always advised to stay away from low temperatures as it can constrict their blood vessels and lead to high blood pressure. Caffeine being a stimulant also increases heart rate and blood pressure. So it may increase difficulties for such people.
Empty Calories: Most caffeinated drinks are loaded with sugar and give you not just empty calories but a sugar crash later, which might make you feel more lethargic after some time.
Effect on Digestion: Being a stimulant, caffeine increases gut motility or the contraction of muscles that propel the contents in the gastrointestinal tract. This might be a reason why you feel like having tea or coffee with or after a heavy meal. But this actually isn’t good because it reduces the time your food stays in each part of your digestive system, not letting the nutrients fully absorb. In fact, too much can lead to diarrhea which is followed by dehydration.
Pregnancy & Lactation: Caffeine can easily cross the placenta and can reach breast milk. So, women who consume caffeinated drinks may need to limit their intake to avoid risk of miscarriage or low birth weight.
Interaction with Medication: Our body flushes out caffeine generally within 6-8 hours but while in the system, it can react with your medication and supplements, causing poor absorption or side effects.
Suppresses Appetite: Now this can be both good and bad for all weight watchers. Research shows that caffeine acts as an appetite suppressant but increases higher plasma levels of PYY & Leptin (anorexic hormones). It might make you eat less calories, but with less food, there is less nutrition as well. So beware of consuming too much caffeine, as our body needs more nutrition to maintain immunity.

Now, the purpose of all this information was not to coax you off caffeine but to ensure you control your intake. Controlled amounts can have some benefits too! Make sure you drink the right quantity and the right version. 1-2 cups of black tea, green tea and black coffee are better options than sugary and cream filled versions. Also ensure that you drink your last cup 6-8 hours before you sleep.

We hope this article on why you should avoid caffeinated drinks in winter helps you! Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more on nutrition, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#BeTheForce

January 30, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

Healthy Eating: Millet Soup

Believe it or not, Millets have been in the winter superfoods list since time immemorial. Millets are hardy grains and because they grow like weeds, they can withstand any temperatures (hot, cold and even drought). Let’s learn an interesting way to include this winter friendly superfood in our diet with a healthy Millet Soup recipe!

What You Will Need:

Curd – 1 cup
Bajra flour – 3 tbsp
Water – 3-4 cups
Boiled sweet corn – 2 tbsp
Yellow & green bell peppers – 3 tbsp chopped
Carrot – ¼ cup chopped
Onion – ¼ cup chopped
Cabbage – ¼ cup chopped
Coriander leaves – ½ cup chopped
Desi cow ghee – 2 tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Green chilly – 1 tsp finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp grated ginger
Coarsely ground black pepper – ½ tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

How To Prepare

Take curd and bajra flour in a bowl and whisk to make a smooth mixture.
Gradually add 3-4 cups of water while whisking the mix. Add salt & pepper to this mix and keep it aside.
In a pan, heat ghee and crackle cumin seeds. Add all the veggies except coriander leaves & sauté for a minute.
Slowly add bajra and curd mix into the pan with sautéed veggies while stirring. Cook this on medium to low flame for 15-20 minutes.
Turn the flame off, add lemon juice and fresh coriander. Your hot and tasty millet soup is ready!

Highlights of the Millet Soup recipe

This soup is the perfect option when you are hungry but want to have something warm and light.
It is high in iron content
It’s all organic as millets are naturally non-GMO and pesticide free
Millets are not only high in macronutrients like protein and fiber but are also a powerhouse of many vitamins and minerals too.

We’re sure this Millet Soup will become your go-to winter recipe. Try it now and 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.

Eat healthy and #BeTheForce