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November 13, 2017 By Dr Akshat Chadha Leave a Comment

Diabetes – (Die-in-bits OR NOT)

So I started writing this blog almost a year back and could not complete it in this one year because I felt everybody knows everything about diabetes and what was the point of repeating the same things over and over again. Then, I realized, that this World Diabetes Day instead of the same diabetes facts, what we really need is a real patient case and scenarios to make everybody understand how intense and life-threatening, diabetes as a disease can be.

I remember long back we had a worried parent of a 6year old come into our clinic saying that his son’s urine had ants in it. After taking a proper history we realized that it was not ants in his urine but sugar in the kid’s urine left on the commode which was attracting the ants. Few blood tests later the child was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. That’s Type 1 diabetes, the type which is most commonly seen in the younger kids. Basically, the pancreas barely produces any insulin in these kids which leads to sugar flowing through the blood and causing diabetes.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both.

Causes can range from autoimmune destruction, heredity or positive family history, insulin resistance to various infections like pancreatitis. But, the main cause or the root cause of Diabetes especially type 2 which affects mostly the adult population has to be a poor lifestyle.

Diabetes-like we all know can easily go unnoticed, even when a patient has already been diagnosed. Because of this, unfortunately, many don’t pay attention to the possible terrible problems that can happen if your diabetes is not under control.

I remember a case at the beginning of my career, a 40year old man having diabetes for more than 10 years came to our clinic with a complain that he had wound on his foot which was not healing. He knew his sugars were high but still wasn’t taking care. We started him off on the required medicines and within 10 days of better sugars, the wound had healed. He had no memory of how he had hurt himself. After 4months the same patient came back with an even bigger wound but unfortunately this time it had spread so much that his foot could not be saved and had to be amputated.

Does it make sense being so careless with your health and losing your foot just because your sugars are not controlled?

diabetes 1

Let’s discuss the complications of uncontrolled diabetes which can affect almost every organ of your body. Most commonly Diabetes affects your heart, kidneys, eyes, feet and your nerves (neuropathy) at varying degrees. Apart from these, diabetics have a higher risk of infections and dental problems. It is difficult to say what gets affected first but easier to remember that if your blood sugars are not under control, you have set yourself on the path to trouble.

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During my internship, I got a call from a friend that his dad had a heart attack and they were shifting him to the same hospital where I was working. Fortunately, that month I was posted in the ICU itself so I was happy that I was going to be able to monitor his dad. Just on the opposite bed, there was another man of the same age who had suffered a heart attack the morning before. Almost two weeks later, my friend’s dad was still in the ICU whereas the other man was on his way to get discharged. Another 2 weeks went by but unfortunately, we didn’t see much signs of improvement and eventually we lost him in the next few days. The only big difference between the two patients was that my friend’s dad had uncontrolled diabetes!!

Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis). If you have diabetes, you are more likely to have heart disease or stroke.

Your body and your health need a lot of care, attention and need to be your first priority not only at the time when you are sick but more when you are well. The point of this blog is not to scare you but to make you aware, and part of that awareness is knowing how to be able to help yourself. Follow the below tips and start your healthy journey today!

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Tips to prevent or live well with diabetes

Maintain a healthy weight and look out for belly fat
Make healthy food choices
Be physically active (gradually increase everyday steps and try and reach the 10,000 target)
Monitor your sugar levels regularly and keep a check on your blood pressure
Get your full body tests done once a year
Sleep well and work to manage daily stress
Quit smoking
If on medications, make sure you take them regularly

November 12, 2017 By GOQii Editor 2 Comments

“I have achieved the impossible and that is a change of attitude towards health, happiness and fitness”

“Fitness is not about being better than someone else… it’s about being better than you used to be.” – unknown
Impossible – can be broken down to I’m Possible – and this is the one thing that comes to mind when you see the progress Namitha, a GoQii player of a year has made. Once a salad dodger and a soup skipper who couldn’t care less about exercise, Namitha has seen a remarkable change in her life, having lost 24 kgs in the last 11 months.

This is her story –

“I have never been on the slim side of the scale. Right from childhood, as far as I can remember, I have been pleasantly plump and easy going. My love for food dominated my life style and I was very pleased with myself, despite hovering on the higher side of the 2 digit weight figure. My double pregnancies became a good reason to pacify myself for the increase in my weight.

Although I had tried dieting before, the weight always crept back! Further, I had issues like PCOD since 16/17 years and chronic ache in the heel.

Two years ago, work required me to move to Bangalore. My desk job, coupled with canteen food and a sedentary lifestyle increased my weight and lethargy more than ever. It was not till Februrary 2016, on my birthday, that I was confronted with the rudest shock! My weight had reached the 3 digit mark! This is when a friend of mine who had seen drastic results from being a goqii player recommended the Goqii band and encouraged me to become a player.
I was assigned Kiran, my coach for who I will be eternally grateful for. Kiran set very small targets for me in the beginning starting with the basic 10k steps. She was always available for me and I recall how much I have nagged her. Kiran’s patience and encouragement along with my perseverance has paid off.

I introduced dietary changes in my food – from slowly cutting down on the carbs (I am a rice lover!) and adding sprouts and salads, fruits and soups to my diet. I played with smaller portions. Now it amazes me to see people actually polishing off a whole plate of biryani and to think I used to do the same.

I loved the fact that Kiran was pushy but not drastically so; just the right amount of push that someone like me needed. She guided me and was so dedicated which further pushed me to do my best.

Today, I am a whole new person. I took part in the 5 kms marathon on March 29th this year and this is a person who hated walking, running was a far cry. My friends and family are proud and ecstatic with my achievements. In fact, my husband joins me for my morning jogs. I realised that I don’t feel as restless during physical exertion like i used to and my recovery rate is faster than before as well. The pain in my heel has close to vanished. In fact, just yesterday, I climbed up six floors of a building. These are things I would have never imagined I would do even in my wildest dreams.
For someone who only went to the limited plus size stores, today I proudly walk into regular stores and am thrilled to be able to choose from a variety. People who see me are shocked to see the remarkable change and I keep telling every one of the benefits of being a Goqii player.

The last one year has been a memorable journey, a momentous one actually. I have achieved the impossible and that is a change of attitude towards health, happiness and fitness!

What does Coach Kiran Madari have to say about her player Namita?

Namitha is an awesome person. As a coach I am really proud of her and her achievement. Namitha was very worried before starting on GOQii as she was on the heavier side weighing 114 kg with PCOD and she wanted to lose weight, be healthy and wanted to be a girl which she was before. She was very consistent in following my advice and worked very hard to achieve her goals. We have been together in this journey. Whenever she had challenges like guest coming, festivals, illness, she used to ask me for my support and followed whatever I told her and stayed on track.

November 11, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian 4 Comments

“Coach’s guidance and motivation along with my willpower has helped me achieve my goals to lead a better, fitter and healthy lifestyle”

Prashant Bhatia, 36, is an IT Professional and was always active but, he was not at his optimum level of fitness. He was more of a weekend warrior and not too serious about a daily work out and moreover took things for granted. Until one day when he realised he was doing no good to himself and decided to rectify his habits and get serious about a good routine workout. The result of this change has been that he reduced about 10 kgs in about 8 months’ time and since then has maintained his weight, is active on a daily basis and eating and living healthy. Here is Prashant’s transformation story in his own words.

For a while, I was thinking of wanting to change the way I was physically and mentally. I was active but not consistent enough. Then I happened to read about GOQii on Amazon and the way they managed your health. I learnt that GOQii was more than just a fitness tracker. It did not just help in tracking your daily step count but also guide you on how to lead a good lifestyle.

I was quite impressed with what I read as I was looking for something like GOQii. I was looking for more guidance coming my way to improve the way I live. In September 2015, I went in for a 3-month subscription of GOQii. At this point in time, I weighed around 83 kgs. My weight more or less hovered around this level.

I chose Jyoti Kumawat as my coach. In our first intro call, she asked all about my daily routine, what I do, what I eat, when I eat etc and after that call, I realised so many things for changed drastically and changed for the better.
Just to give you a perspective, before I came on board GOQii, my day used to start with tea and biscuits as breakfast. Fried food at times. I never ate salads, milk or buttermilk. Fruits were nil from my diet All that has changed with me eating healthy food and being active on a daily basis.

I now take time out to go a daily walk or a jog. Lots of foods have been added to my daily diets such as Milk, dry fruits, salads and fruits. Fried items are deleted from my diet list and I have started having buttermilk as well. My urge for tea has also reduced and if I do crave for a tea then I have plain green tea.

These changes were implemented slowly and not all in one go. We proceeded one step at a time. My coach has done a fantastic job and I followed everything she said and hence this positive change in me. Initial 4-5 months I still hovered around my weight of 82-83 and then gradually as two months passed I started reducing and I have now lost around 10 kgs and I am maintaining my weight at 71-72 kgs.

One and half years since I am on GOQii and I can proudly say, I feel good about myself as my lifestyle has changed for the better and I am more healthy. I have been jogging or walking at least 8-10 km a day.

I then suddenly developed a knee issue (ACL Sprain) due to which I had to go in for treatment. I took complete rest for 3 weeks and did not train my legs. During this time my coach recommended that I start taking Curcumin extract which will reduce the inflammation. That helped me.

Overall, I feel awesome. I can definitely wear the jeans that I used to wear earlier because it would not fit and all. So I’m liking it. I can tuck my shirts in the jeans which I didn’t earlier as I was on the heavier side. I definitely feel better and lighter.

People around me too have seen the change and me. My colleagues especially have seen the change as I have stopped eating junk food, fried food etc. I have learnt a lot from my coach and I am thankful for that.

The reason today, I feel positive is that it’s not about just getting guidance from a coach but also that you yourself abide by what is being told to you. I had not followed what my coach told me I do not think I would have seen the positive results in me. I realised a lot of this has to do with your own self-motivation and willpower to change things for the better for yourself.

My goal when I bought the GOQii was to get into best shape physically, run a marathon and am I glad to say that I achieved both my goals within a year’s time of being on the GOQii platform. Six months ago I ran my first 10 km run and I was able to do this purely by walking and jogging daily and slowly building on that. I thought if I can do more in terms of maintaining my physique and my muscles by eating right, I think I will go long way. So going forward my intention is that.

What does Coach Jyoti Kumawat have to say about player Prashant Bhatia?

It feels so great when I roll back my eyes to the time when Prashant came on board, in September 2015. His health goal then was “Optimum fitness and Fat loss”. This was really a broad term as a goal….as he did not have a specific target in terms of his stamina, flexibility and eating habits. But, we started working on simpler habits like stretching and simple food habits like lemon warm water and as time passed he had a better view of his health goals. He started with 83 kg weight and within 6 months he lost 10 kgs weight and inches from his whole body and is now maintaining that 70 kg weight.

I remember I used to tell Prashant that “I will make sure you run marathon”, and he used to laugh it off. I motivated him and made sure he trained well and ate healthily. Today, I am so proud that he did participate in a 10 km marathon organised by one of the large sporting stores in Mumbai.

Prashant’s story started with simple changes in workout adding stretching and warm up pre workout and post workout cool down, then adding cardio, interval training to improve stamina and later on started with strengthening for stronger muscles. Giving different types of workouts- HIIT, Tabata, meditation for relaxation and yoga for flexibility has made him more dedicated towards his fitness and stamina. Starting from 3-5 kilometres walk, now he jogs around 7-10 kilometres daily. In addition to this he now also has pre and post-workout meals for better recovery and this has helped him gain better stamina.

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November 5, 2017 By TAARIKA ARYA Leave a Comment

Did you know you can ‘drink’ your Vegetables’?

Do those leafy greens freak you out? Does eating 1 large cucumber, a bowl of spinach, 2 apples,2 carrots in one sitting seem like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE to you? Hold on. Thanks to juicing, all of this can fit into one glass which can be gulped in less than 10 seconds. That’s not it; you are free to make it the way you want it to suit your palet. You can feel free to add any vegetable (carrot, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, spinach, bottle gourd, etc), fruit for flavour and sweetness (apple, pomegranate, orange, berries, papaya, melons and banana) and a few add ons like flaxseeds, chia seeds, mint, coriander, ginger, lemon juice, gooseberry.

Drinking just one freshly made vegetable juice each day is a reliable way of infusing your body with a wide variety of vitamins and minerals that can protect your body against pre-mature ageing and diseases. It’s the best bet for people who often tend to skip their breakfast due to a busy morning schedule.

It is a myth that the no.1 reason for juicing vegetable is weight loss. It’s just that juicing makes us so good that the weight loss is an added bonus! A major benefit of juicing regularly is that we stop craving for junk foods. Our body gets into the natural habit of declining processed sugar and opting for fruits/raw vegetables. We begin to crave for a glass of juice instead of a cup of joe!

Exploited in the right amount, juicing has many benefits on offer:

Absorb all the nutrients – Cooking, frying and boiling the ingredients many-a-times leads to the destruction of a majority of the vital anti-oxidants and amino acids. Juicing helps prevent this loss and fortifies your dietary intake with a well rounded ingestion of all necessary nutrients.

Eat as many vegetables that you have ever imagined – Let’s face it, on any regular day, we wouldn’t even dream of eating a bowl of boiled and sautéed spinach or broccoli; no matter how nutritious it’ll prove to be. But now, all we got to do is throw together all of the infamous leafy veggies into the blender, add in the juice of half a lemon for zing or an apple for sweetness, and we won’t even recognize the ‘rabbit food’ anymore.

Make sure we don’t waste the fibre – After we have extracted the juice from the blender, don’t simply throw away the pulp. We can incorporate this leftover fiber into muffins, soups and gravies. Juicing does increase our anti-oxidant intake, but we lose out on natural fibers which aid digestion. A completely juice-based diet will do more harm than good. It is meant to supplement our nutrition, not hamper it.

Drink your juice right away – It is a very bad idea to juice large quantities at once and store it for consequent use. Under highly monitored conditions, vegetable juice can stay fresh for a maximum of 24 hours due to its unpasteurized nature. After this time span, the nutritional value declines steadily and the taste will also suffer. It is best consumed immediately.

Few things to keep in mind:

1.Make sure that we’ve removed all dirt or even bugs that may be hiding in the vegetables, particularly in the heads of broccoli, leaves of spinach or lettuce.

2.The key to making healthy vegetable juices is to make green vegetables the bulk of every serving. Green vegetables won’t spike your blood sugar and insulin level like fruits and sweet vegetables like carrots and red beets will. They can be healthy additions to our drinks, and they’ll definitely add sweetness and flavour.

3.In regards to the machinery required, our usual blender should do the trick just fine. However, if one is serious about juicing and wants to extract the best out of the ingredients – it would be beneficial to invest in a masticating Cold Press. The press slowly crushes the fruit or vegetable and prevents the application of heat as is the case in blades and blenders. Thus, ending up with healthier and highly-enriched juices, with preserved colour and nutrients. They are similar to the cold pressed juices available in the market.

A guide to build a perfect veggie juice:

Step A : Choose a base :

Water, coconut water, green tea, almond milk

Step B : Choose your veggies:

Spinach, broccoli, lettuce, celery, cucumber, carrots, beetroot

Step C : Choose a fruit :

Apple, grapes, melon, papaya, banana, peaches, kiwi, pineapple, pear

Step D : Optional add-ins :

Flaxseeds, chia seeds, ginger, gooseberry, lemon juice, honey, dates, almonds, nut butters,

Cinnamon, coconut oil, avocado, ice cubes.

Step E :

Blend and enjoy!

These is some serious life-sustaining stuff. So drink with gratitude and enjoy knowing that you’re taking great care of yourself.

Diabetes – (Die-in-bits OR NOT)

“I have achieved the impossible and that is a change of attitude towards health, happiness and fitness”

“Coach’s guidance and motivation along with my willpower has helped me achieve my goals to lead a better, fitter and healthy lifestyle”

‘Want to get featured here? Click Here to tell us your story.’

Did you know you can ‘drink’ your Vegetables’?

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