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"

May 26, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

All About Digital Detox: Part 2

You 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.

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.
Clean your device. Delete old apps and social media accounts.
Have a device free morning. Do not check your phone as soon as you wake up. In fact, keep your phone away during bedtime.
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.
Turn off notifications as they distract you constantly. Set a time for checking messages, emails and notifications.
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

#BeTheForce

May 25, 2021 By Neha Goyal Leave a Comment

All About Digital Detox: Part 1

We 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

May 20, 2021 By Neha Goyal 1 Comment

3 Best Vitamins To Boost Immunity

With cases rising rapidly and there being no definite cure for COVID-19, it is important for us to take preventive measures and build our immunity. The food we eat determines our overall health and immunity. Immunity being our body’s first line of defense is much more needed now than ever. While a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle is the need of the hour, few nutrients play a very special role when it comes to boosting our immunity. Among different nutrients, today we will discuss the most potent vitamins to boost immunity.

Essential Vitamins To Boost Immunity

1. Vitamin C

Also known as ascorbic acid, Vitamin C is water-soluble. It helps kick start the action of our immune system by encouraging the production of lymphocytes & phagocytes, thus, helping the body protect itself from infections. The body cannot store this vitamin and being water-soluble, it’s easily lost through bodily fluids. Hence, it is important to consume foods rich in Vitamin C on a daily basis. Being heat sensitive, this vitamin is destroyed on heating, so it is better to get it from raw foods.

Food sources: Citrus fruits, kiwi, strawberry, amla, papaya, bell peppers, leafy greens, broccoli, black currants & tomato.

2. Vitamin D:

This is definitely one of the most essential vitamins to boost immunity. It is fat-soluble and hence, can be stored in our fat cells. Which means that your body can mobilize its own reserves if your daily intake falters temporarily. Deficiency of this vitamin is highly associated with increased susceptibility to infections. Not widely available in vegetarian foods, it is hard to get enough of it. For most people, the best way to take this vitamin is through supplements.

Food sources: Cod liver oil, salmon, tuna, fortified orange juice, fortified cereals, egg yolk, dairy and plant milk fortified with Vit D, Sardines, swordfish and certain mushrooms.

3. Vitamin E:

This fat-soluble vitamin is a potent antioxidant and helps reduce cell-damaging oxidative stress in our body. It has the ability to modulate immune functions at the cellular level which usually decreases with age. It helps in the rapid increase of the infection-fighting cells and boosts their infection-fighting capacity too.

Food sources: Sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, vegetable oils, spinach, broccoli, avocados, wheat germ oil, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds

PLEASE NOTE: Though these vitamins play a crucial role in the functioning of our immune system, a balanced diet and attention to other aspects of good health like exercise, sleep and staying stress-free is also very important. You must take most of your nutrition from natural foods as much as possible rather than being dependent on supplements. Before you switch to any foods you have not consumed before, please consult your doctor or nutritionist in case you have any allergies.

We hope this article helps you. For more tips and to know more about foods and vitamins to boost immunity, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to live sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

To get more immunity boosting tips, ask our GOQii Coaches by subscribing to GOQii now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

Stay home, eat healthy and #BeTheForce

April 10, 2021 By Neha Goyal 1 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