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Search Results for: nutrition

July 30, 2015 By Payal Choudhury Leave a Comment

Carbohydrates-“Your diet’s fuel”

carbohydrate-diet-plan

The way carbohydrates are demonized today, it’s no wonder that so many people actually fear eating them. I used to be one of them. As a recovering “carb-o-phobe,” I’m now on the flip side and advocate eating complex carbohydrates for optimal nutrition.

Carbohydrates are nutrients that act as a good source of energy for our body. It is made up of sugar, starch and cellulose and it contains hydrogen and oxygen in the ratio 2:1which is the same as that of water. Although carbohydrates can be digested a lot easier than fats or proteins, they aren’t considered indispensable for the body.

While some carbohydrates make us healthy, others can be harmful to our health, if taken in excess quantities. For example, certain carbohydrates increase the risk of diabetes and heart ailments. So why are certain carbohydrates are beneficial and others adversely affect our health?…We need to go deeper and learn about the different forms of carbohydrates.

There are many forms of carbohydrates, but the three common forms are sugars, starches, and fibres. The basic unit of all carbohydrates is a sugar molecule. Then there are simple and complex carbohydrates. While sugars are simple carbohydrates, starches and fibres are classified as complex.

We generally consume simple and complex carbs. To understand what they are about, we’ll look at the list of carbohydrate rich foods and all that is essential for.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars composed of monosaccharide (single sugar molecules) or disaccharides (two joined sugar molecules) such as glucose, sucrose, lactose, and fructose. This category of carbohydrates is best found in fresh fruits.

On the other hand, however, there is another grade of foods that contain simple carbohydrates. This class of foods is processed foods. The trouble with these foods is that they provide energy and calories in abundance. It is for this reason that these high-calorie products must be kept away. Apart from that, simple carbohydrates that the body obtains from natural foods are also easier to digest than those obtained from processed foods.

Simple carbohydrates contain one or two sugar molecules linked together and are digested or broken down into glucose faster, because the bonds in these small molecules are easily accessible to the enzymes of the digestive tract. Hence, these carbohydrates are readily absorbed.

Complex carbohydrate:

Complex carbohydrates (or polysaccharides) are made up of three or more sugar molecules that are bound together. Since these carbohydrates get digested slowly, they release sugar into the system very gradually, thus allowing the body a consistent level of energy.

Often referred to as starch, foods that contain these complex carbohydrates are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and fibres. The old belief that starch is bad for the body is rapidly dying, because starches by themselves contain only 4 calories per gram, while fat contains 9 calories per gram. Also, the advantage with complex carbohydrates is that they fill you up quicker, thus allowing a reduced intake of food, which very simply leads to a reduced calorie intake.

In addition, refined carbohydrates may contain hydrogenated vegetable oils, additional fat, and processed sugars. Eating refined carbohydrates like a cookie in the morning will neither give you the energy nor give you the nutrition to maintain a balanced body.

Benefits of simple sugars:

Eating sugar gives you immediate access to fuel. There are times when this is an advantage. When the level of sugar in your blood drops, you may feel sluggish or even ill. Eating a simple carbohydrate, such as a fruit, may raise your blood sugar and give you the burst you need.

Simple carbohydrates may have the advantage over complex when it comes to preparing for exercise. Before a training session, race or game, many athletes eat a large amount of carbohydrate to provide energy. So before any workout, simple carbohydrates are your best choice. Due to the fact that they’re digested more quickly, simple carbohydrates are good for athletes who need short bursts of energy, as opposed to endurance athletes who need longer-term energy from slow-digesting carbohydrates. Examples of pre-workout meals that contain simple carbs are bananas with honey, low-fat yogurt with jelly or chocolate milk.

Complex Sugars:

There a number benefits of eating more complex carbohydrates, so it might be necessary to make some switches. Here are some examples of easy substitutions:

  • Instead of white bread and pasta, switch to whole grain bread and pasta (if the switch is intimidating at first, try mixing half whole grain and half white when making your pastas).
  • Instead of munching on chips, try raw vegetables.
  • Instead of rice, try eating more beans as a base for dishes.

Also diets rich in fibre help to keep us ‘regular’ which also promotes greater intestinal health and, in turn, helps to guard against a number of illnesses including colorectal cancer. Immunity is strengthened. It contributes to Energy, Digestion, Metabolism, Sleep, Filling fibre, Brain function, and Nervous system function.

Well, to distinguish simple and complex carbohydrates and how they are processed by the body, one might think that foods containing complex carbohydrates are actually healthier than those that have simple carbohydrates. However, this is not always true. Rice is rich in starch which is a complex carbohydrate, while fruits contain fructose which is a simple sugar. But we all know that between the two, fruits are a better option when it comes to eating healthy.

Thus, we see that not all carbohydrates are bad. In fact, a balanced diet that has a fair share of carbohydrates, is essential for a healthy you. So let go of your carbohydrate fears and feel good about including some of these foods and reap the benefits that good carbohydrates have to offer.

 

July 21, 2015 By Hardika Vira 3 Comments

7 Healthy, Nutritious SWEETS

 

sugarfree dryfuit barfi 1When you hear about the word sweets, one expects loads of sugar and fatty foods. Who ever said that sweets cannot be nutritious and healthy?

There are some healthy and nutritious sweets which will not only satisfy your sugar cravings but, sure will also help you improve your health and immunity. Let’s have a look at these 7 recipes that I have in store for you

1. Date Rolls

date-rolls

Ingredients Amount
Dates 1 cup
Almonds 8-10 nos
Dry ginger powder 1 tbsp
Gum (gond/ dink) 1 tsp
Cow’s Ghee 1 tbsp

The gum exudes naturally from the roots of the plant and from incisions made in the stem. This is collected and when dried forms crystals of flakes or may be formed into blocks. It is also known as gondkatira, or Tragacanth gum. It is a coolant and at the same time is rich in soluble fiber. It is easily available in where grains and dry fruits are available.

METHOD:

  1. Warm ghee in a pan, once it heats up, add gum to it. Stir until it swells. Remove it out in a plate
  2. In the remaining ghee in the pan, sauté the dates for a few minutes. Turn the gas off and add chopped almonds, dry ginger powder and fried gums
  3. Mix it well and make rolls
  4. Garnish with almond slivers
  5. Serve at room temperature

P.S: You can add little cocoa powder to give it a chocolaty taste. You can also add walnuts instead of almond

BENEFITS: Dates are rich source of iron, ginger powder is anti-inflammatory and almonds are rich source of omega 3 fats, gum is good for bones.

All in all a super immunity and health booster sweet

2. Sesame Chikki or Blocks

Sesame Chikki

Ingredients Amount
Roasted Sesame seeds/ Unsalted peanuts 1 cup
Jaggery ½ cup
Oil For greasing

METHOD:

  1. Take ½ cup of jaggery pieces in a pan. On a slow flame, melt the jaggery and stir continuously. Keep stirring it until it attains hard ball like consistency (check by adding the jaggery syrup in cold water. It should harden like candy)
  2. Once the hard ball consistency is achieved, add the roasted sesame seeds/ unsalted peanuts to the jaggery syrup. Mix well.
  3. Get the mixture off the flame and pour the mixture on a greased platform and roll the mixture into a thin film. (Roll when hot so that it can be rolled into a thin film. Once the mixture reaches room temperature, it is difficult to roll.)
  4. It will harden when it cools down and you can make small pieces of it.

P.S.:- You can use almonds/ walnuts/ dalia (Roasted unsalted gram dal)/ rajgeera (Amaranth seeds) etc.

BENEFITS: Jaggery a rich source of iron and til/sesame seed is super source of Calcium. 2 spoonfuls of sesame seeds equals calcium equal to 1 glass of milk.

Jaggery- til/ sesame seed chikki is best for women during their menses. It eases the menstrual pain.

When peanuts or other nuts are used, it serves as an excellent energy bar, without any preservatives

3. Makhana (Foxnut) Kheer

navrathri-fasting-nutrition-dessert-sweet-makhana-kheer-fox-nut-foxnut-euryale-ferox

Ingredients Amount
Makahana/ foxnut 1 cup
Low fat milk 500 ml
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Almonds 6-8 nos
Ghee 1 tsp
Jaggery/ Approx. 3-4 tbsp
Saffron Optional

METHOD:

  1. In a pan, take a tablespoon of ghee and roast the foxnuts or Makhana. You can powder the foxnuts too if you want a thick consistency in kheer
  2. In another pan, heat the milk, when it comes to a boil, add foxnuts, stir well and simmer for 5 -10 mins stirring occasionally in between on a medium flame
  3. Add cardamom powder, pinch of saffron, almond slivers to the above mixture.
  4. Add jaggery and stir well.
  5. If you want a thick consistency, simmer for a few minutes more stirring occasionally

PS:- You can replace Foxnuts with brown rice/ grated carrot/ grated bottlegourd/ Haleem seeds/ Ragi/too.

BENEFITS:Foxnut is rich source of calcium, high in fiber, antioxidant and proteins which when had along with milk increases its nutritional value further. Almonds again is a rich source of omega 3 and fiber.

It serves as the best food for toddlers and infants in their growing age. Even for pregnant and lactating females.

4. Mango Yoghurt Candies

 

Mango Yogurt

Ingredients Amount
Low fat fresh yoghurt 1 cup
Ripe Mango puree 1 cup

METHOD:

  1. In a blender, mix well the low fat fresh yoghurt and the ripe mango puree. Do not add any sugar since fruit has its natural sweetness. If need be, add stevia leaves.
  2. Add this blended puree in moulds. Deep freeze it for 6-8 hours. You can add wooden sticks while unmoulding to give an ice-cream effect
  3. Unmould and serve immediately
  4. S.:- Choose fruits which are fresh and ripe as it is sweet and does not require sugar substitute to make the dish sweet. You can use fruits like strawberries, litchi, kiwi, blueberry, custard apple

BENEFITS: Yoghurt is great source of probiotics which maintains gut health and fights bacteria and disease producing organisms in our body. It is also great source of vitamins and minerals available from fruits. It makes for excellent ice-cream that is sugarless and low fat + no added preservatives. You wouldn’t mind giving it to your kids for sure

5. Lapsi

lapsi

Ingredients Amount
Broken wheat/Dalia/ fada 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Cardamom powder ½   tsp
Almonds 6-8 nos
Ghee 2 tbsp
Raisins Optional

METHOD:

  1. Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a wide pan on medium heat; stir in the broken wheat and roast the wheat until it gets a roasted aroma and the color changes to golden orange.
  2. In another pan, dissolve the jaggery in 2 cups warm water. Strain if you see any impurities/residue. Pour in the jaggery mixture and cardamom powder in the broken wheat mixture stirring continuously until well combined. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 10-15 minutes; stirring occasionally until the wheat is cooked to tender.
  3. Allow the Lapsi to rest covered for five minutes. Stir in the cashew nuts and the raisins to the above mixture and serve
  4. Stir in few of the almond slivers and the raisins to the Lapsi Recipe (Gujarati Broken Wheat Pudding). Garnish with remaining almond slivers. Serve hot

P.S. You can also use oats/ coarsely ground Moong dal flour instead of broken wheat

BENEFITS: Broken wheat is rich in fiber and manganese, magnesium, phosphorus. It contains all the nutrients present in whole wheat. When had with jiggery, it serves to be a nutrient dense sweet.

6. Puran Poli

oetsVSiigjfbh_bigger

Ingredients Amount
Whole wheat flour 1 cup
Tur dal/ Chana dal/ lentil 1 cup
Jaggery 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder ½   tsp
Nutmeg powder ¼ tsp
Ghee 1 tbsp
Oil 1 tsp
Saffron Optional
Salt To taste

METHOD:

  1. Take a large bowl; combine wheat flour with salt, water and knead to form a firm dough mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to coat the dough and knead for a couple of more minutes until smooth and firm. Cover the dough and keep it aside for 10-15 minutes
  2. Cook the lentil with 1-1/2 cups of water until soft and is well cooked. You can even pressure cook the lentil for one whistle and simmer on slow flame for a few minutes more. Drain any excess water from the lentil and keep aside.
  3. Heat ghee in another pan on medium heat, add the jaggery and stir until the jiggery dissolves completely. Stir in the cooked lentils, saffron, cardamom and nutmeg to the jaggery mixture until well combined.
  4. Continue stirring the mixture until the lentil mixture begins to thicken and leaves the sides of the pan. Turn off the flame and let the mixture cool completely.
  5. Divide the dough and Puran mixture into 6-7 equal portions. Roll out rotis with the help of dry wheat flour. Place the puran mixture into the center, bring all the edges of the rolled roti towards the center and fold over to cover the filling, thereby sealing the puran mixture completely.
  6. Flatten the stuffed dough; dust over a little flour and roll gently into medium sized rotis/ circle ensuring not to put too much pressure as the puran can come out of the dough.
  7. Preheat an iron skillet on medium high; place the rolled puranpoli’s onto the skillet to cook until golden brown on both sides by applying minimal of ghee over it to give it a crispier texture.
  8. Repeat the above process for all the remaining dough and puran portions.

BENEFITS: Excellent cereal pulse combination providing good quality proteins. Iron from jiggery. Good satiety value since high in proteins, fiber.

7 Dry fruit Barfisugarfree dryfuit barfi 1

Ingredients Amount
Seedless Dates chopped ½ cup
Dry figs chopped ½ cup
Almonds finely chopped ½   cup
Walnuts finely chopped ½   cup
Cashew+ Pistachio mixture finely chopped ¼ cup
Milk 1-2 tablespoon
Cardamom powder A pinch
Nutmeg powder A pinch
Ghee ½ tbsp.

METHOD:

  1. In a pan, heat ghee. Roast all the dryfruits except dried figs and dates until you get roasted aroma
  2. Blend the finely chopped dates and figs with 1-2 tablespoon of milk until smooth.
  3. In a nonstick pan, sauté the blend paste until golden brown. Keep stirring continuously till the mixture leaves sides of the pan. In this mixture, add the roasted dry fruits and mix well.
  4. Pour and layer this dry fruit barfi mixture into a greased pan and smoothen it well. Allow it to rest until the mixture is cooled completely and it firms a little
  5. Cut the Dry Fruit Barfi into equal squares. Your dryfruit barfi is ready to serve. You can garnish it with almond slivers

BENEFITS: Serves as an excellent nutrition bar. High in omega 3, iron, calcium, fiber , multivitamins and minerals. Great option for all.

July 14, 2015 By Hardika Vira 1 Comment

Rickets: Types, symptoms and treatments

It’s natural that most mothers want their child to grow and be normal and in this process keenly observe every little change that occurs in their child. I am a mother too and therefore I felt the need to write a blog on the issue commonly faced by children –Rickets

It is a deficiency of Vit D, calcium or phosphorus also known as Osteomalacia. It involves softening and weakening of bones in children due to deficiency of Vit D. The softening occurs due to loss of Calcium in the skeleton as a result of which bones become flexible and gradually are moulded by forces such as bearing weight, that are exerted on them thus leading to deformities of the body structure.

There are various types of rickets:

  1. Nutritional Rickets- Due to dietary deficiency of calcium, Vit D. You can correct it with including good sources of Calcium, Vit D, phosphorus.

Sources of Vit D include sunlight, fatty fish, milk, mushrooms

Sources of Calcium include Milk and products, gingelly seeds, Ragi, tofu, soy milk, figs, rajgeera (Amaranth seeds), Almonds, figs etc.

Sources of phosphorus include milk and products, ricebran, pulses and legumes, rajgeera(amaranth seeds), pumpkin seeds, colocasia leaves, gingelly seeds, carrot , bajra, maize etc.

  1. Hypophosphatemic Rickets- As the name suggests this particular form of Rickets is caused due to low levels of phosphate. Bones become painfully soft and pliable. It is caused by a genetic dominant X-linked defect in the ability for the kidneys to control the amount of phosphate excreted in urine. It is not caused by Vit D Deficiency. Children suffering from this type of Ricket show obvious symptoms by the time they are 1 year of age. Treatment is generally through nutritional supplementation of phosphate and active form of Vit D.
  2. Renal Rickets- Caused by a number of kidney disorders. Persons suffering from kidney disorder have decreased ability to regulate amounts of electrolytes lost in urine which includes electrolytes like calcium and phosphate. Thus, these individuals develop symptoms similar to those of rickets

Treatment includes correcting the leading cause of renal disorder

Symptoms include

  1. Bone pain/tenderness
  2. Dental deformity
  3. Delayed formation of teeth
  4. Decreased muscle strength
  5. Impaired growth
  6. Short stature
  7. Skeletal deformities- bow legs
  8. rachitic rosary(rib cage abnormalities)
  9. Tetany i.e. involuntary muscle contraction) or seizures in severe cases

Treatment/ Prevention:

For Nutritional Deficiency Rickets

  1. Correcting nutritional deficiencies by incorporating more of Calcium, phosphorus and Vit D 3 sources
  2. New mothers have to be advised Vit D supplementation to their new borns as breast milk is low in Vit D especially with regards to low birth weight infants
  3. Gradual administration of oral doses of Vit D after consulting a doctor

For hypophosphatemic rickets and kidney/renal Rickets

Need to consult doctors and get the underlying cause corrected.

1) Skeletal deformities- bow legs

ricketsbone

2) rachitic rosary(rib cage abnormalities)

ricket

 

July 3, 2015 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 3 Comments

Secrets of Muscle Building

 

Muscle-Building-Dietfood-and-exercies

Most people whom I have come across in gyms want to only build muscles. But, after certain period of time the body stops giving results. In short, there is absolutely no improvement or change in the muscles and the body is just the same. In fact most end up losing muscle mass and seeing these results one gets de-motivated and stops going to the gym.

One needs to overcome such situations. I strongly believe in the statement, ‘losers never win and winners never quit’. So don’t give up and ahead with the following muscle building strategies

  • Scientific Workout Routine for Weight Training:

Scientific workout routine is very essential for muscle building. It should be a good combination of primary muscle group as well as secondary muscle group. Here, I would like to give the example of shoulder workout followed by the triceps workout. Every compound movement for the shoulder exercise, the triceps are working. So apply this formula to other muscle groups as well such as the back and biceps, chest and triceps.

 

  • Always start exercise with compound movement and end with isolation movement: In compound movement more than 1 joint are involved where as in isolation movement only a single joint is involved. We can start with the chest exercise with press movement and end with fly movement. In press movement, the muscles of the chest, shoulders and triceps are involved. The fly is the isolation movement here we target only the chest muscles.

 

  • Never neglect Cardio and Stretching

Cardiovascular exercise is very essential for muscle building. It helps to recover the muscle tissues. It helps to provide maximum oxygenated blood during the exercise. Instead of neglecting the cardio go for the no impact cardio exercise like elliptical or cycling. Good static stretches after workout will ensures the recovery of your muscles in the shortest possible time.

 

  • Nutrition

Balanced nutrition is very essential for muscle building. It’s applicable to one and all and not only to those who want to build the muscle. Try to consume healthy meals in regular intervals of 2 to 3 hours. Nutrition involves regular intake of breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, Pre workout meals and post workout meals and other meals.

 

  • Rest and recovery

Good rest and recovery ensures you good fat loss and muscle building .Muscles are growing during the rest and recovery .Whichever muscle and tissues utilised in a day get repaired during sleep and rest .

 

All the above guidelines will help you the maximum muscle growth.

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