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HEALTHY FOOD TRENDS OF 2018

Healthy Food Trends 2018

Let me begin by wishing you Compliments of the Season!

The health food scenario evolves every year, with some trends becoming part of our daily diet, whilst others just being passing fads. Whether your goal was to lower risk of ailments, boost your overall wellbeing, or make mindful eating a priority, you would have undoubtedly run into some of 2018’s principal healthy food trends. So here’s a quick recap of what we relished while sailing through the food culture this year.

1. Plant-Based Diet:

plant based diet

Plant-based diet became increasingly popular, with an increase in the number of people turning Vegan, due to various reasons including health, ethics and the environment. In fact, a lot of meat eater turned towards a “Flexitarian diet” eating meat or fish occasionally, while primarily focusing on a Vegetarian diet.

2. Meat- Free Zone: Getting inspired by Vegans, Manufacturers started to offer meat-free options to those limiting meat products, or vegan lifestyle. Though one cannot match up to the protein intake of Meats, they almost gave their best to resemble the chewy consistency, flavours, and a convenient on-the-go snack option.

 

3. Healthy Fats:

healthy fats

Heart-healthy fats like olives, walnuts and avocados were immensely popular last year and continued to have the same place in everybody’s kitchen this year too. These healthy fats increase the chances to attain weight loss goals and let you stay fuller for longer. Keeping in mind, the health benefits of healthy fats and consciousness among people, it was one of the key trends of the year.

4. Medicinal Foods: In recent years, probiotics have been able to make a strong impression in the health world. Things such as Sauerkraut, and Kimchi, together with other picked vegetables became even more popular as more and more people wanted to rejuvenate their body from the very root of the system- The Stomach.

5. Superfood Powers:

super food powers

Superfoods have in hitting everyone’s kitchen this year as it healthy and super easy option to be added to any dish. Flaxseeds, chia seeds, matcha powder was seen added in healthy shakes and salads.

6. Floral Teas:

floral teas

The year 2018 is full proof to state that Flowers is not only for Valentine’s Day, but it also has some immersing health benefits too. Whether Lavender lattes or Hibiscus Teas, floral notes bloomed the evenings for many of us.

7. Golden Milk: If the year 2018 was a colour, it would surely be Golden….or at least if it is the colour of the milk. Also known as Turmeric Tea or Golden Milk has been traced back to the ancient Ayurvedic Times to treat many ailments, and often a combo of turmeric, pepper, coconut oil or milk.

The year 2018 has been great for India’s food culture where we not only saw varieties but most importantly, the awareness among all of Us for our Health. We now see everyone getting conscious about health by opting healthy options and joining some form of Fitness Club. But, if you still missed on adding any of these to your diet, then Get Ready…. New Year is coming soon… Time to take Resolutions and Achieve your Goals…..By then..…Stay Updated to know

“THE UPCOMING FOOD TRENDS OF 2019”

 

 

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From Crawling to completing a Half Marathon, all within 12 months

 

kk-adhm-15 (1)

Since October 2014, Kamal from leading a very unhealthy lifestyle to turning an ace marathoner in a years time has now made fitness & running a way of life. Let’s hear it from him how he achieved his goals.

Kamal Karnatak is a busy CIO of an Indian MNC. He lives in New Delhi and works in Gurgaon. His office is a neat 43 km away and he travels by car for almost 2 hrs (One Side) -5 days a week.  Just as he is passionate about his work, he is also passionate about leading a healthy lifestyle and has become a great inspiration and motivation to many of his friends to follow the same. His day starts at 5.30 am and he is out for a 6 km run at 6 am on alternate days and on weekends he runs 10 km. The days he is not running he resorts to strength training. Here is how he did it?

“I was aware of my shortcomings and kept trying to get fit. I tried several other wearables available on the market until I tried GOQii. I knew about it and decided to give it a try. I found that GOQii is entirely different from other so-called fitness bands, while other tracks various body parameters, GOQii band connects you to complete health ecosystem with real people. I got on to GOQii ecosystem in Oct 2014 and since then the one big change I have brought to my life is getting a proper routine.  I exercise every day and eat five meals a day (mindful eating).”

When Kamal started using GOQii, he did not have any fixed routine for exercise. His daily routine was to travel 43 km to work in a car for 2 hrs from New Delhi to Gurgaon to and fro. Lack of any exercise, incorrect nutrition had caused indigestion and bloating. To add to these, his total cholesterol was as high as 270 and BP were 90/130 much above the normal. With the right intention to want to get healthier and fitter, he would exercise only when he had the time. He found that his normal steps per day were 3000-4000 and during weekends it used to be only 2000-3000. “I was always under the impression that I do not have enough time to exercise.”

After he got on to GOQii he was given a target of at least 10K steps per day and that for him was a difficult task to achieve.  So he added walking to his routine. Soon after 8 months of being on the GOQii platform; on a daily basis he was achieving nearly 12K steps per day and that count went up to 25-30k during weekends. “My coaches helped me to achieve that over a period of time and it was such a gradual process for me that now it has become a lifestyle,” asserts Kamal.

He Crawled to Walk-Run 42 min to a Half Marathon 

kamal karnatak

After two months of using GOQii and achieving his targets (Steps, Water, and Sleep) on a daily basis he was still not losing weight. So his coach asked him to start 1 min run and 2 min walk routine for 21 min. She also asked him to plan to participate in a 6K run within a year’s time, which Kamal says he laughingly ignored. “I still remember that on the cold morning of December’14 when I ran, I could barely run only for 42 seconds at a stretch on the first day and after that routine of nearly 20 min, I was quite exhausted. My foot muscles were soaring with pain and I thought that I may not be able to walk the next day. I shared the same with my coach and she said that do this for next 3 days and everything would be fine,” he says.

And surely it was all ok and after 8 months he could run for 42 min continuously. In November 2015, he completed his first half marathon (21.1 KM) in 2hrs 34 min. Now he is sure that if he continued to follow his regime he would surely be able to run 42 KM marathon by this year. While his goal was to lose weight, he achieved that as well and lost some 12 kg by now. The best part is that his other issues of high cholesterol and high BP also normalized.  Running he says was never part of his goal but it happened and he is glad it did.

The plan was to go from fit to fitter

Today, Kamal’s overall fitness has improved. “With the help of my coaches, I made many permanent lifestyle changes. I also realized that health is not a project as it does not have any end date, it’s a continuous process and with the right kind of motivation anything can be achieved. I, who always used to complain that I do not have enough time for exercise, now always look for exercises/walking/running excuses,” says Kamal. “My journey continues with GOQii and I feel that it would help me to become a fitter person,” he adds.

What does Coach Kruti Jain have to say?

Kamal is a focused & a determined player. His journey has always been progressive. He wasn’t very consistent with his activities (due to other priorities) earlier. But, when he joined GOQii, it looked as if he has promised himself to not fail this time.

In spite of many hurdles, he would manage to get back to the regime. He started off with the goal of losing some weight because of which he was directed towards running.

From a simple goal of weight loss, his goal changed to running a half marathon by the end of the year and he did it. Clearly emerged a winner. He is one such player who keeps his coach on her toes. His interest & obedience makes you feel responsible & you want to help him in every possible way.

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“There is lot of positivity among us and that is being witnessed by people all around us”

Rajnish, Reena and Rimuksh at the practice session for Oxfam trailwalker

Rajnish Kansal and Reena Kansal, both in their mid-forties is a happy couple with two happy kids. They are a fit family that firmly believes in healthy eating and being active daily to be able to lead a great life. And all this change happened within a year of following the GOQii Lifestyle.

Let’s hear Rajnish and his family’s story in their own words.

Just to give you’ll a background, I am 47 years of age and work for a food company that manufactures and sells processed food products. I was always an active person for many years at a stretch until one day I took up this vice called ‘smoking’. For 19 long years, I was a heavy smoker. In 2006 one fine day I decided I have had enough and wanted to quit smoking – and in a spur of the moment, I just quit.

Once I had quit smoking I wanted to get back to rebuilding the damage to my body. However, I didn’t know where to start from. I started following many things together without any tangible visible results. Then one of my ex-bosses motivated me towards the path of health and about 6 years ago I started my journey with first eating right. I started the process with whatever little knowledge I had and could glean from whatever sources and got into an active lifestyle. But, there was no proper regime and no discipline attached to it. It was just all over the place.

It was in end-December 2014 that I got to know of GOQii and the coach service that it provides. I decided to give it a shot, and my journey with GOQii started exactly a year ago on 2nd of January 2015, today, I can confidently say that it has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Through constant guidance from my coach and internal motivation from within the GOQii ecosystem, I have physically become stronger with an increase in my muscle mass so much so that I “dared” to participate in the 100 km Trailwalk along with my wife in November 2015 – together both of us completed it in approx. 38.5 hours! This year I am hoping that my son will also join us. I also run the half marathons regularly.

I do indulge myself in cheat eating. But, it is guilt-free eating and only once in a while. I am not counting calories but I am conscious guilt-free eating and how much? Working for a processed food company… GOQii is a redemption for me!

Within a month’s time of me getting my GOQii band, my wife started noticing the positive changes in me and got interested. And, I gifted her a GOQii band last year on the Valentine’s Day.

Reena Kansal says: “It is one of the best gifts that I have ever got in all these years.”  My food habits had already gone through a change after Rajnish got the band. So even without a band, I was following everything that Rajnish was being guided on. Post getting my own band, GOQii has brought in a lot of positives to me.

My food patterns have changed. While I was always a small eater at regular intervals, what I was eating was not always healthy. Now, I eat everything but, I am conscious of eating healthy. So much so that our household cooking has become healthier and kids have also readily accepted that. It’s been a major shift for us towards eating healthy and keeping fit.  Earlier I used to go to the gym but not very regularly. Forget counting steps there was no proper regime to do anything. Now I have set a goal for myself to clock at least 13k steps daily.

I work for a fashion apparel company and am always on the move. Prior to GOQii, I did not have any routine but, ever since I have been on GOQii platform there is discipline in life. Now, I am supercharged and raring to go – No more being lethargic and tired. These days when I exercise, I do not give up easily. My energy levels have certainly gone up a lot.

“After my wife, I got my son who is 14 years old introduced to GOQii and subsequently my daughter who is 12 years old. My family has also got moving with me now”.

My kids changed their school last academic year and the kids have felt the positivity having the profound impact in their new environment as well so much so that they are now supercharged and participate in various physical activities like races etc.

 Rimuksh Kansal says: I like the GOQii way of life. I used to eat lots of sugar and sweets. Now I can control myself to eat sweets and junk food. It’s been six months since I have eaten chips.  Also, I wake up at 6 am on my own. After I am back from school at 3 pm I step out at 6 pm to play. I wanted to do the Trailwalk with my parents but, I could not as I am underage. However, I did go for the 3 practice sessions and completed them as well. This ability in me is something that my coach Neha Morche has brought out. I would say, GOQii has made me a lot more active than I was earlier.

Rijul Kansal is a chirpy and lively child. She is supercharged and she says: I got my band last year and I feel really good about being on GOQii. It has done a lot of good for me. I have changed my eating habits. Earlier I used to eat a lot of junk food but now I do not. I probably have once in a while where there is a picnic or something. However, I am able to control the urge for junk food. I follow everything my coach says. She has thrown a challenge of eating one fruit daily this month which I am trying to keep up. Until last year, I did not go participate much in the weekly GOQII event Active Sunday. But this year I have promised myself I will attend all Active Sundays and be very active. Because of GOQii, I am fit now. Before I had my GOQii band, I used to always fall ill during winters but last year I only fell once and that too because I had a cold drink. I do not get stressed because I am active. So I am able to participate in all school activities. Since I love running, during PT sessions I can easily run two rounds of the ground continuously without stopping.

Unfortunately, both the kids are unable to wear the band during the school hours – their school has a strict “no gadgets” rule – however, what is noteworthy is that they manage to clock their steps over the weekend and above all they understand what mindful eating and being active is and how it’s keeping them healthy.

Taking over from his kids, Rajnish continues, earlier we had a hard time living mindfully, but with GOQii, we are all aware when we are not moving. There are days when I look down to check my steps and if I find that I have not clocked enough steps then I go for long walks with my family – this gives me an opportunity to not only complete my step count target but also to spend quality time with the family.

We are now truly a GOQii family. The GOQii Active Sundays have become an inseparable part of our lives – as a family, we are some of the most active players of GOQii in Delhi – and all four of us are each other’s support system. The kids love it, and Reena and I love the fact that we were giving them tools to stay healthy as they get older. And to top it all, we have an awesome set of friends now, all with a similar motto in life – be physically and mentally healthy!

For us, wellness has now acquired meaning in its entirety – physical and mental, both and for the whole family.  We are physically active and mentally we are far calmer now – we have started spending a lot of time with each other and pursuing new stress-busting hobbies like painting, calligraphy etc. And we are very happy, from within. In the last one year, I have realized that our demeanour has become extremely positive that people have started noticing it in all of us.

Thank you, GOQii! We sure appreciate being a part of the Ecosystem that supports us every step of the way in being healthy!

Coach Anushree Ashtekar on Rajnish

“Rajnish is one of the best GOQii players I have worked with. I remember; when he had come on board, we had set his health goals as reducing fat percentage, increasing stamina, bring high uric acid level under control and bringing about work-life balance.

He was an athlete during his college days but, fast-paced work life caught up with him. He had specifically mentioned that he wanted me to be a pushy coach; so, I became one! We brought about a major difference in his daily food intake by improving meal quality and that helped him in fat loss. Simultaneously, we also worked on the exercise part. With time, uric acid level improved and body fat percentage improved too.

Rajnish is a person who believes in not only taking care of his own health but, has strong views on today’s generation getting fitness conscious. His wife, son, and daughter are also GOQii players. This is one power-packed family who is regular at the GOQii Active Sunday sessions!

Rajnish’s love and determination for good health and fitness and his faith in me as his coach have given us awesome results. We are now working on progression in exercise and bringing about work-life balance. Am sure, like our other goals, Rajnish will achieve these too!”

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Mind It: Eat slowly, do not gobble down

mindful eating

I had just about done with my daily routine of a brisk walk in a park. And, I hear some noises- what is it that I hear…it was my stomach growling. Sending me hunger cues and reminding me that I should be eating something. And, yes I was so hungry that I could probably eat a horse.

I quickly walked up to the nearest café to grab some snacks so I could calm down my growling stomach. While I was awaiting my order, I started to look around the café. One of the best things to while you are alone in a café is to observe others sitting there.  What do I see?

I see this young man eating at breakneck speed. Probably he was in a hurry to just grab some food and rush out to work. While he was eating a break neck speed he was also fidgeting with his phone. Ain’t we all good at multitasking of this nature? As he was eating he also managed to engage himself in few calls. If he could do that to me it came across as he wasn’t in such a hurry as it seemed! Then I thought to myself why would somebody be eating at such a speed? Probably, just a habit I thought to myself!

This is true though. There are many people whom I know have developed these fast eating habits. They are most often in a hurry to get over and done with their food to get away from the table. Most often one develops these habits during childhood and it continues through your adulthood.

But, let me tell you that gobbling down the food quickly without realizing what just went in, does no good to your body. In fact, eating too fast could nearly double your risk of being overweight or obese. A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that women aged 40-50 years who eat the quickest are more likely to be obese than slow eaters.

Once you start eating, it takes about 20 minutes for the “stop eating” signal to reach your brain. Fast eating overrides the mechanism of stimulating the satiety center in the brain. Thus, if you eat too quickly or say within 20 minutes, you tend to overfill your stomach and overeat, paving way for overweight and obesity and other related disorders.

Rather than thinking about food in terms of number of calories and nutrients, it would be more beneficial if you eat it mindfully. Eating slowly, chewing the food thoroughly, and savoring every bite of it are some important aspects of Mindful eating which contribute to your health in several ways.

Digestion: chewing well promotes the release of salivary enzymes in the mouth which in turn start off the digestion process, thus making your further digestion smoother and simple. Hence it is said that slower you eat, the faster and more efficiently you metabolize the food.

Portion control leading to weight control: Portion control is easily achieved when you slowdown your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when you stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease  and overweight is relatively low in France. It is well documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating therefore works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

Taste and Enjoying: Eating sensibly also involves relishing your food thoroughly by feeling the flavour on your palate. Sensible eating lets you experience the textures and the aroma of the food overall, making it a wonderful experience focused more on the impression and less on the health effects of eating.

In an age which is clouded by distractions, sensible or mindful eating gets difficult for many. It requires a conscious effort on an individual’s part to make sure that he or she is eating in an environment which is less distractive. To enable yourself eat mindfully, ensure that you are away from the television, mobile phones and other devices so that the focus is completely drawn towards eating. You can have some soft music playing in the background to make the eating experience more delightful.

When you eat, JUST EAT! Be mindful and Stay Healthy.

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