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Benefits of Pre-Planning your meals: failing to plan is planning to fail

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Travelling for me has always been a bane not because I do not like travelling but, largely due to the fact that my meals just go for a toss and me going ravenous at the sight of food when I reach my destination. I would end up eating like I’ve never seen food before and then curse myself for the next three days. We all can relate to this even in our day-to-day life. How many of us come back home after a long day at work and raid the fridge. The reason-most of us either do not have the time or the willingness to carry food from home, how much ever of a ‘health freak’ you claim yourself to be. I am sure many of you reading this blog would identify with me on this aspect.

Ever wondered why this shift in behavioural pattern? – The answer is simple enough – Lack of planning! When it comes to eating well, meal planning is one of the easiest things you can do to set yourself up for success. While even the thought of it can be considered a chore to add onto your “to-do list,” this is one chore that should be at the top of that list!

Think of it as – planning your budget for the forthcoming week. Without planning your expenses based on your most recent earnings, there would be a high possibility ofyou going overboard with your spending and later putting yourself on a guilt trip. Same is the case with food planning. You certainly do not want to fall into thevicious trap of – overeat – feel guilty – get on a diet – punish yourself to exercise – starve – think that you have lost those unnecessary pounds – overeat again.

Planning your meals well ahead of time brings with it certain benefits difficult for us to overlook.

Here are some of them you are most likely to be able to relate to –

Make healthier choices– Planning your meals well ahead of time helps you take control of your personal nutritional needs. There are rare chances of you then reaching out to convenience foods like ready to eat foods, quick fixes like those creamy or sugar laden biscuits and cakes or fall prey to emotional eating.

Satiety cues are kept under control – The simplest of the food choices made by you (something as simple as dal rice) keeps you feeling satiated enough to prevent any hunger pangs or sweet cravings from setting in especially later in the evening. And, if you get this right, your weight loss concerns are taken care of!

Prevents bloating & acidity –Out of 10 people, 5 complain of acidity issues, bloating and other digestion related problems. Why is this? The main cause being, untimely meals especially due to faulty planning.

Slim chances of eating beyond your capacity –When you know that all your meals are taken care of for a particular day, it so happens and is my personal experience too, that you tend to relish and at the same time practice ‘mindful eating’ at all times when you sit down to eat. As you are tuned in to your stomach you know where exactly to stop the act of eating. End result? You end up feeling so much lighter and are ready and eagerly await your next meal within 2 hours!

Staying committed to your ‘cheat day’- We all set a weekly ‘cheat day’ for ourselves but, how many of us stick to it? If you are successful at planning your meals right, there are high chances of you sticking to this week long commitment!

In short, ‘planning’ your meals allows you to take control of yourself and your nutritional needs leaving you feeling so much better about yourself because you not only end up losing oodles of inches but, you are eating so much more than ever before!

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Be a happy and healthy eater

DE8AB426-13ED-4809-968D-650F639D3F41-9315-00001128AD2CB366_tmpWeekend is getaway time with our family, friends or colleagues. Some people think after doing strenuous workouts and crash dieting it’s time to relax over the weekend and relaxing means literally binging on outside food. More often than not, the thought process is –‘its only today so let me indulge…..I will make up for this binging over the week by sipping a meal or two’.

When Monday arrives, they are guilty of having indulged over the weekend. One needs to stop and notice these chain of events. There has to be a change in the behavior. Individuals’ need to realize that indulging in binge eating for two days and then feeling guilty and trying to rectify the situation does not work.

Hence it is said that ‘Mindful Eating’ is a must and the best solution. Mindful eating teaches us to simply observe thoughts, feelings and cravings for food. It enable us to change our behavior while we maintain our sanity and happiness

Here are Some Mindful eating tips-–

  • Multi-tasking while eating or watching television while eating always causes distraction or causes hurried eating. So switch off your phone, TV and Computer before eating.
  • Preferably adopt the cross legged posture Or sit At your usual dining place.
  • Try to eat sitting cross legged. You can do this even while sitting on a chair. Sitting cross legged on the floor and eating meals is an age old technique from our grandma’s days. (This helps to blood flow to the stomach area)
  • Calm your mind and body then start eating your meal. When your mind is calm and composed, you release the right amount of digestive juices which gives you better digestion.
  • If you are stressed or guilty while eating -stress hormone called cortisol is released which lowers our metabolic rate, prevent fat burning and help convert food to fat.
  • Take deep breath, calm yourself and get settled before eating.

While Eating-

  • Don’t be in a rush while eating and try to get up fast.
  • Start eating (preferably with your hands) and eat slowly.
  • Chew your food slowly
  • Use your entire mouth and do not just chew from 1 side of your Jaw.
  • While you still have food in your mouth don’t pick up another morsel from your plate.
  • Keeping food ready in your hands or in a spoon means you are eating fast and will ultimately this could lead to overeating.
  • Eat with your senses and think about how the food is nourishing you from within.
  • Savor every bit of what you eat, slowly and mindfully and you will naturally find your threshold. So be silence and attentive while you eat.
  • Prepare Food in smaller quantity. If number of People are less it helps to prepare lesser quantity and better by retaining nutrient value.
  • Always eat food that is freshly prepared. One should consume food within 3 hours of Cooking.
  • Don’t deep freeze cooked food.
  • Try eating with your non-dominant hand. If you’re a righty, hold your fork in your left hand when lifting food to your mouth whenever you eat outside in restaurant or party
  • Whenever you get the craving for a sweet – before opening the fridge or cabinet for the same, take a deep breath and ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?” Do something else, like reading or going on a short walk as that will help you to avoid any emotional extra eating under stress.

Let’s start to enjoy eating food rather than think of it as a task to complete. Remind the body of its own intelligence and its ability to self-regulate for you! Cultivate a sustainable, balanced and healthy approach to the way we eat, the way we look, and the way we live.

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Fitness as a lifestyle rather than crunching of data

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Pavan Prabhakar is a busy corporate executive working with a leading IT firm in Bengaluru. Like every other busy professional his grouse was a sense of having no time for exercise and healthy eating. The worst was that he was aware that he was doing everything wrong but was nevertheless unable to rectify his situation. A suggestion from a colleague changed everything for him. Today, he is super active, he has lost weight and is even working towards running a marathon next year. Let’s understand from Pavan what and how things have changed for him in the last year.

I had a highly sedentary lifestyle. No exercise, No monitoring of what I eat or any kind of activity. It was a double whammy in the sense that I was neither attempting to check on what I was eating nor was I consciously attempting to do any exercise. All in all, there was zero discipline …in life…

I was aware of my issues and the only way I thought I could fix my situation was through a   wearable (fitness tracker). I knew a fitness band can get me active and healthy. The only fitness band I knew of was Fitbit. But, a colleague of mine at work suggested GOQii and also explained the coach factor to me.

I researched online and read more on the coaching service. That is what attracted me to GOQii. I needed somebody knowledgeable to nag me and get me on track. I needed to get some discipline in Life and do the right things so as to be fit and healthy.

I came on board GOQii in Oct 2015 with the aim to get fit and active, control and manage my weight and train for a fitness event such as the marathon. After a few weeks of having GOQii, I noticed the changes within myself.

Today, life is more disciplined and I am addicted (in a positive way) to GOQii. Thanks to my coach I am doing all the right things. I have stopped snacking, I am eating healthily and also exercising daily. I am doing all those things which I thought was impossible to do.

The outcome of being active and eating right has resulted in my BP being controlled and 8 kgs of weight loss.. I also enrolled into a gym, on the insistence of my coach, for strength training. I do cardiovascular exercises and strength training in addition to walking. Tabata and Interval Training is also added to my routine now.

The GOQii band, according to me, is one of the best in its class. The whole concept of looking at fitness as a “Well-being solution” rather than just crunching data is what differentiates GOQii from the others. It is this differentiation that lured me toward it.

It’s been almost a year and have seen amazing results. The “Coach Concept” is like having a virtual well-wisher for you who keeps monitoring your steps, intake, and workouts. In addition, throughout the process, my coach is able to offer, some great advice. You also get some very informative (myths busted) nutrition-related mails from the master coach.

I am very happy to report that I am now addicted to the habit of watching my step count quite a few times a day…I am cognizant of what I eat, thanks to the log feature of the app. I go for regular walks. What was initially 20 minutes has now increased to 45 minutes.

I am hooked on to achieving my goals. I like to see myself getting the necessary step counts on a daily basis. From 7k steps, I increased to 9k steps and now I clock 15k steps daily. Soon, I am going to increase it to 20k steps. I am also happy that I now fit into my earlier clothes. And I have more energy! I have even reduced my coffee intake from 3 cups to 1 and stopped snacking.

Overall, I feel good about myself. I am more confident and my attitude towards life has changed. My goal going forward is to run a marathon.

What does Pavan’s coach Dhruvi Rathod have to say?

Rolling back to the day when I first spoke with Pavan, I figured he was clear in his head and knew what he was doing, what was right and what needed to be improved. There were quite a few things we discussed during the call -laying our focus on reducing weight and leading a healthy life.

It was not very difficult for me to convince and convey the concept of healthy, mindful eating with some regular workouts. With all the intentions to improve and create a healthier person, we started our journey with small changes like from walking for 20 mins to 45 mins daily, having balanced meals instead of unhealthy snacking, and having an increased water intake. It took but a few days for Pavan to incorporate all these changes.

Each time we connected to review our goals, we had more goals accomplished and always were ready to move forward to that “healthy self” he wanted to become

We inched ahead with inclusion of some high intensity exercises like Tabata, interval training.   We supported it with some good nutrition by making pre and post workout snacks as a daily ritual.

Meanwhile, we also took up some challenges like completing 1 lakh steps in 10 days, doing a water detox, Doing 10 mins meditation etc..Pavan has been a quick learner and very open to try new things which are beneficial for his health…

He has become the model of what it means to create a truly healthy lifestyle rather than merely a collection of data points or biometric units.

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“I needed a coach who could help me with understanding nutrition patterns better”

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She is a fitness instructor herself. One would wonder why would a fitness trainer need a fitness tracker? But, this fitness trainer wanted a tracker that would help her know how many steps she takes in a day and also wanted a motivating factor in a coach with whom she could interact and understand more on nutrition etc. Let us understand from Nyela Saeed in her own words  what is it that she has learnt and implemented for her ownself?

I am a fitness instructor by profession and I run various classes of aerobics, Bollywood workout etc. and I am trained with Reebok and have done many other short courses in fitness. I was gifted a GOQii fitness band a year back for my birthday by my husband.

I have been with it for a year and I have been extremely regular with my login and my meals but the reason I have actually got the band is because even though I am a fitness instructor and I am conscious in many ways just having a band on your self tells you how many steps you took and having a coach who is constantly watching over you is an important key feature that works for me.

I have a daily routine that starts with the workout classes in the morning and I am extremely busy through the day. I also have a three year old baby who I attend to and therefore end up paying less attention to myself.

Initially, I didn’t really know what GOQii was about, I knew that there are fitness bands in the market that measures your heart rate and track your step count etc. but I didn’t know GOQii existed and it comes with a live coach. When I got the band and synced with the app, I understood that this is not a robotic application its real who understands my needs and works accordingly.

I didn’t have any particular health goal because I am a fitness trainer myself. Despite the fact that fitness is something that has always been of interest to me, I still wasn’t paying a lot of attention to myself. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to my sleep cycle. I wasn’t eating mid meals at all earlier and I would get extremely hungry and eat a big supper. Now all of this is corrected thanks to my coach and also I make sure I meet my water intake level of three litres per day.

Other than this I get a lots of tips from my coach and I don’t have to keep googling to get my  questions answered. For e.g. the cooking oil that you use in the house. I always go and buy the same cooking oil from the same bottle. The way my coach has explained to me what is poly saturated and mono saturated fats and how to alternate your oils etc. these are the things you need somebody to personally tell you how to incorporate in your life.

Also lot of questions pertaining to nutrition, I now just ask my coach and take her word for it. She also, put me on a three to four days detox regime in between because I had a long wedding period. My wrong sleep patterns have come down drastically because of my coach. Sometimes I used to have my meal and then have chocolate cravings.

My coach has taught me to alter my meals and now after my meals I have flavoured saunf or jaggary and peanut bar. My meals are now only healthy choices and I have given up on white sugar for the last one year.That is a big thing for me. I only take jaggary for everything but my coach has told me not to go overboard with it.

Recently, I have also been away from tea and coffee not because my coach told me but because I have become more conscious. Tips on nutrition is what I was largely looking for and my concepts are now clear. Apart from my health, my baby’s nutrition is also taken care of.

Earlier I would workout 5 days a week, my coach suggested I add one more day of workout and have only one day for rest.I have stopped taking the car or an auto and instead walk to places that that has helped me reach my target step count. My water intake has always been good. All in all I am happy being on GOQii platform and it has helped me a lot.

What does coach Tejal Gupte have to say about Nyela Saeed?

Nyela has been on her GOQii health journey for more than a year now.  She has always been a cheerful and an enthusiastic person, always ready to learn more and new things about health and nutrition. Coming from a fitness background, staying physically active was never a big challenge for her. But, her lifestyle consisted of high frequency of eating out due to frequent socialization and she had been a sugar addict for a long time. So we took these two aspects as our short term goals one after another.

We regularly discussed ways to practice mindful eating when having outside food and importance of portion control in such situations was explained and imbibed in her routine. Dealing with the sugar cravings looked challenging and took time initially. Right from using healthy substitutes i.e jaggery based sweets, dates and fruits, to the distraction techniques like engaging in favorite activity, consuming saunf at the time of craving, and other tips were shared and incorporated. I must say, even though it was not easy for Nyela to go off sugar that easily, it was her determination and hard work that helped us to achieve these goals. She even participated and to her surprise finished the 7 days sugar free challenge. She also completed some other challenges like the “3 day detox challenge” and step count challenge.During the whole year, we also worked successfully on some other goals like water intake and adding healthy snacks in evening to beat the hunger pangs.

Nyela has been regularly syncing her band, sending her updates as well as interacting on her goals throughout, which has made it more helpful to work on her goals.In the current scenario, her water intake has improved a lot than earlier. Best part is that although we could not do much alteration in her frequency of eating out due to her highly social lifestyle, mindful eating has almost become a habit for her and she is able to master it most of the times. I feel really happy and proud to see the transformation she has brought in herself in this one year period.

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