Search Results for: nutrition

September 10, 2014 By Mitali Ambekar Leave a Comment

Smart Girls use Dumbbells

As a sports nutritionist, I have in the past only worked at various Gyms. My primary job was to plan diets. At times I even had to look at client’s workout schedule to be then able to accordingly plan a diet for them. It is during this stint that I realised that most women clients would either only do cardio and stretching or do weights with the same amount of weights for almost 3months continuously. They would lift minimal weight of 2.5lbs/5lbs and that too they did as their trainer told them. I then had to spend extra time with these women and explain to them that they should start their weight training initially with lower weights but gradually increase the weights to higher pounds to achieve the necessary results or the goals they have set for themselves.

Ladies..Wake up!! Today its women power and we women are walking shoulder to shoulder with men in varied fields. There is always this fear I have seen among women who go to gyms to lift weights. So don’t be afraid to lift weights and do as men would do. Or at least get closer.

Don’t worry!!You will not put on those extra muscles that will make you look manly because we women have been blessed with some lovely hormones that give us the beautiful body. So, irrespective of how much ever weights you pick up you will never look manly. It will only tone your body to make you look more beautiful, energetic and fit.

Women are the master of all trade and we often work towards keeping one and all happy. We are very good at multi-tasking and most of us do it with ease. And to be able to perform all of these duties to the fullest we have to have amazing energy levels, great stamina and a strong willpower too. And after doing all this if we want to look good and maintain ourselves there is nothing wrong with it at all.

Many women who are not fit or not into regular exercising often face lot of menstrual problems, pregnancy issues, Post pregnancy weight issues etc.. All of this can be sorted out with regular weight training.

Women can achieve the stamina, long lasting energy, good looks, a toned body and beautiful skin with a good workout. Maintain the same consistency of one day gym and one day cardio.

Listing the benefits of weight training for girls/ladies/mother/grandmother.

1. Strong Bones : Most of the women face bone density issues, especially in old age. Weight training helps you in increasing the bone density. In younger girls it makes it stronger.

2. Lesser Body fat: As you gain muscle with weight training your metabolism will increase, in turn making you burn more calories, thus leading to a toned body and lesser fat %.

3. More Energy: Exercise helps you in boosting your metabolism, thus more energy.

4. Stronger Body: Exercise helps in stronger muscles thus helping you maintaining your daily chores easier like picking up grocery bag and carrying children around, picking a bucket etc.

5. Fights depression: Exercise releases certain hormones in the body which makes you feel good and enhances your mood too.

Manages chronic conditions: Chronic conditions like Aches and pains in the joints, blood pressure, Heart disease etc., and their symptoms reduce with regular weight training
Eases Menstrual Issues: MS and menstrual pain, one of the biggest concerns for females, is taken care of if Regular exercise is a part of daily routine.

8. Post Pregnancy weight: If you are weight training regularly, even after pregnancy getting back in shape becomes easier.

9. Skin & Hair : As blood circulation increases due to exercise, your skin and hair become more healthy and better.

10. Thyroid & PCOD: Weight training helps insulin resistance and reduces body fat, thus helping cure both Thyroid and PCOD.

There are numerous such small but good benefits for women in including weight training as a part of the exercise regime.

So go Pump The Iron Girls!!

September 3, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

All that you should know about LOWER BACK PAIN

Lower back pain?

Degeneration of the spine?

Lumbar disc problems?

Joint pain?

Body aches?

For all of the above, the one 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 that 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 strong 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

In our next blog you will read about how to cure your lower back pain through Yoga

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 14, 2014 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 3 Comments

Stay Fit Stay Healthy

All of us are keen on being fit. Most often we keep complaining about being overweight and therefore I need to do something about it. The most common thing said is, “I am going to go for a jog every morning, so I will lose weight”.

Other common assumptions that people have is that if they walk to office or home they do not have to do any other workout, yoga is the best way of keeping fit, I have brought dumbbells at home so I am doing workouts at home and so on…

Is this correct? As I mentioned in my previous blog (http://goqii.com/blog/benefits-of-physical-activities-part-2/) every person must invest minimum 3 days a week in physical activities as per American College of Sports &Medicine (ACSM) guidelines.

To improve Health we must focus on basic health related components of the fitness.

Focus on basic components of Fitness

Cardiovascular Endurance or cardiovascular fitness

It is the major component of fitness. The word Cardio means heart. It is also known as cardio respiratory fitness and aerobic fitness. It refers to the capacity of heart, lungs and the vascular system to supply oxygenated blood to the working muscles tissue and the muscle capacity to use that oxygen which helps in producing the movements. If we involve ourselves in cardiovascular fitness regularly, the heart becomes stronger and efficient to supply oxygenated blood to the body. Cardiovascular exercise should be done for prolong period of time. These include jogging, running, cycling, swimming, skipping, aerobics and lots of exercise.

Muscular Strength

Muscular strength refers to the ability or a capacity of lifting a weight. This activity is fall under anaerobic zone because in this workout oxygen is not used .To improve muscular strength we need to do weight training.

Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance refers to the performance of the repetitive contraction for extended or prolonged period of time. The exercise may be for the single muscle or the group of muscles. Activity which is more than fifteen seconds but less than two minutes includes in the muscular endurance training. Weight training helps to improve muscular endurance.

Flexibility

Flexibility refers to a range of joint motions. Stretching can help improve flexibility. Dynamic stretches are done before we start our exercises. Static stretches are done after the workout during the cool down phase. During, static stretching we need to hold each stretch minimum fifteen seconds to get maximum benefits.

Body Composition

Body composition refers to the ratio between fat mass and fats free mass in the body More the muscle and less body fat is consider a great body composition. More fats and fewer muscles indicate poor body composition. Greater body composition can be achieved with following the above basic components of fitness such as muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility with the support of balance nutrition.

In as short if you are only jogging or brisk walking does not help. You have to look at the entire exercise components to achieve the necessary fitness and health goals. You can do alternates days of weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Following the above routine is one of the best examples of targeting all the components of the fitness.