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The Foods all Nutritionists agree are ‘Good For You’.

344361-vegetables

We all love reading about the latest trending super food. Whether its Acai berry, Maca powder, or cacao nibs…we wanna know what’s going to up our metabolism or give us that boost of energy we are absolutely itching to have again.

Well folks…let the drum roll begin. Because the REAL super food category of the hour is not some fancy-named upgraded coffee bean or a concoction of some super vitamin made in a lab somewhere.

It is…..

Plants. Specifically fruits and vegetables (Background applause!!!)

Wait….how come you’re leaving? Wait! No…seriously! they are SUPER good for you!

I know, I know. It’s WAY snazzier to imagine that the secret ingredient is some hidden oil or seed or fruit buried at the bottom of Indiana Jones’ cavern. We want the food to be a singular holy grail. But, that is just not the way of it.

No – I’m afraid your mother, and her mother before her and HER mother before HER knew what they were talking about when they said simply “eat your vegetables.”

We have the evidence to prove it. Here are just a FEW examples of the tangible benefits researchers have uncovered about eating more vegetables.

  1. Those who eat more fruits and vegetables (at least 8 servings per day) are 30 percent less likely to have heart disease. (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/)
  2. Those who eat more fruits and vegetables (specifically 8 servings or more) report greater levels of happiness and emotional satisfaction. http://sciencenewsjournal.com/eat-fruit-veggies-happy/
  3. Eating fruits and vegetables is associated with better weight loss and management outcomes:https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/rtp_practitioner_10_07.pdf
  4. Eating a high concentration of fruits and vegetables are associated with a reduced risk of cancer:http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/how-healthy-eating-prevents-cancer
  5. Those who eat as few as five servings of fruits and vegetables every day tend to live longer. http://nutritionfacts.org/2015/09/17/how-much-longer-do-fruit-and-vegetable-eaters-live/
  6. Eating fruits and vegetables can even improve your sex life:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/knowmore-tv/8-ways-eating-fruit-juice_b_9872488.html

So if you’re looking for the newest, latest and greatest super-food, you really need no look toward the dark corners of the Bermuda triangle. It’s right in front of you at your local farmer’s market.

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The 6 tastes- the balanced nutrition in your diet

How to have a balanced diet

Did you know that the taste has a direct energetic effect on digestion?

The sense of tasteis a natural guide towards proper nutrition.For ages, humans relied largely upon taste to discover healthy foods in nature and avoid toxicity. Every taste has a long term effect on our metabolism after digestion is complete, and all the nutrients have been assimilated in the tissue. There are six tastes in nature by which all foods can be categorized. These are sweet,salty,bitter, pungent and astringent. These six tastes are unique and naturally guide us towards body’s nutritional needs. Each taste has its own therapeutic effects and changing impact on our body from the time it enters the body till it is absorbed.

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Let us know these tastes in detail…….

Sweet- The sweet taste is highly nourishing, infact the most nourishing of all tastes. Sweet food is excellent for building the bodies seven vital tissuesplasma, blood, fat, muscles, bones, marrow and reproductive fluids. Sweet food also increases the saliva, soothes mucous membranes and burning sensations, relieves thirst and has beneficial effects on skin, hair, voice and fertility. Sweet taste is found in milk and milk products, legumes like beans and lentils, sweet fruits like mango, banana, and certain cooked vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and beets. The source being carbohydrates, protein and fat.

Sour- The sour taste wakes people up and ensures their thoughts and emotions become clear. Sour food stimulates and boosts digestion, helps circulation and elimination, strengthens the heart, maintains acidity, sharpens the senses, and helps to extract the iron from food.Sour taste is commonly found in citrus fruits like lemon and oranges, yoghurt, cheese and sour creams and fermented foods like wine and vinegar. The source being organic acids, ascorbic acid, citric acid and acetic acid.

Salty-The salty taste provides solidity and structure to people, improves digestion, liquefies the mucous, maintains mineral balance, aids in elimination of waste and calms the nerves. It also improves the radiance of the skin and promotes overall growth in the body. Salt is mainly found in minerals and not in plants, such as sea salt, rock salt, sea vegetables like sea weed and kelp. The source being mineral salt.

Pungent- The pungent tasteis the hottest of all six tastes. The pungent taste in food stimulates our digestion, boosts food intake and makes sure our waste products are burnt. Pungent food ensures that we think quickly and clears the sinuses, promotes sweating, aids circulation, improves metabolism and relieves muscle pain. The pungent taste is found in certain vegetables such as chilly peppers, garlic and onions, and in spices like black pepper, ginger and cayenne. The source being essential oils.

Bitter- Bitter is a dehydrating taste, thus increasing the strength and vigor in an individual. Though the bitter taste is often not an appealing one, it stimulates the appetite and helps to bring out the flavor of other tastes. It is a powerful detoxification agent, and has antibiotic, anti-parasitic and antiseptic qualities. It is also helpful in reducing the weight, skin rashes, burning sensation and nausea. Bitter taste is found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, green cabbage, bitter guard, herbs and spices like fenugreek and turmeric, coffee, tea, and certain fruits such as grapefruit, olives and bitter melon. The source being alkaloids.

Astringent-Astringent taste is classified more in relation to its effect on the tongue than its actual taste. It has a very cooling effect on the body. Astringent taste is found in legumes like beans and lentils, fruits such as cranberries, pomegranate, pears, vegetables such asbroccoli, cauliflower, asparagus andturnip. Grains such as rye and quinoa, spices such as turmeric, coffee and tea. The source being Tannins.

One should incorporate all these six tastes in each meal, which keeps one balanced and satisfy each of the major dietary building blocks. This can thus avoid food cravings and over consumption of certain foods.

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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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“Being physically active is not enough, it has to be balanced with good nutrition”

anand krishnamurthy

From 1000k steps to 15000 steps daily is no mean task for someone who has had a very inactive lifestyle both at home and at work. He was overweight and realised it’s becoming a cause for concern. He, therefore, took efforts to implement a lifestyle change. And, soon realised how much of a significant difference it has had on his life. His outlook towards life has changed for the better and he has started looking at Life more positively.Let’s here Anand’s story in his own words.

I have a typical corporate job and as with all corporate guys, my life was pretty inactive. All I would do is sit on the chair through the day when in office and not travelling. I was quite aware of my problem and therefore was looking for something to get an active lifestyle. I was looking for something that came with an expert advice.

I went through the reviews of various fitness trackers that were available in the market such as the likes of Fitbit. Then I came across GOQii and what I really like about the GOQii device is that there is someone with whom we can chat or share our concerns to figure if we are on the right track or not.

Earlier, whenever I approached a fitness expert all I got was a list of things to do and then you are on your own. I had no clue whether I was doing the exercises right, whether I was eating right etc. As compared to this, I found GOQii to be significantly different from other fitness trackers. At GOQii, you have a coach who will help decipher the date that is clocked on the device and explain what it means.

The coach helps you to change few habits to bring about a lifestyle change, the food habits get regularised etc., and all these make a difference.

Initially, when I came on board GOQii in October 2015, my goal was to lose weight (I was around 109kgs) and get slimmer and fitter but, in the last 3-4 months, I would say my entire lifestyle has changed from what it used. I was looking at reducing slowly but, ended up reducing a lot more than what I had targeted. I actually have reduced around 9 and a half kilos. I am at around 99 KGs currently.

I am also super active now. From barely being able to walk 1000 steps a day that too with great difficulty, currently, I hit about 12,000 to 15,000 steps a day. And most of that is clocked through the first few hours of my run or walk in the morning.

What I have learnt from my experience is that just being physically active is not enough, it has to be balanced with good food intake. I am more conscious of what I eat. I am consuming fruits as well  and there is also more focus on proteins. I have started consuming a lot more vegetables and lots more chapattis and fruits during the week.

All those small changes that I have made has had a positive impact on me. And, at the same time, I didn’t give up on anything that I was enjoying. Once in a while, I am allowed to indulge and I can confess to my coach that I did not follow her rule. She motivates me quite a bit. She gives me lots of chances to get back on track which has really helped me.

More than the weight loss, it’s about how active I have got. The food that I eat keeps me energetic through the day unlike earlier when I used to feel sluggish and was unproductive at work. Now it’s no more like that. My outlook towards life has changed because of my lifestyle change.

I have realised, you can run 15 km and also lose 15 kilos of weight but, all of this does not matter if you don’t follow a good lifestyle. Now, I also take enough rest, sleep well and I am able to do a lot more work. And on weekends, I used to kind of slow down but now not so much. I compensate with more running and more activities on a weekend which kind of helped me bring in the balance. It is kind of mix of a lot of things.

If I have to rate GOQii, I would rate the coaching piece 10 out of 10 because the coach actually helps you change your lifestyle which is one of the toughest things to do. We talk about lifestyle change but, it’s only when you implement it do you realise how much of a significant difference it has had on your life. For me, my outlook towards life has changed for the better and I have started looking at life more positively. I am also more energetic through the day and that has helped me in my relationships both at home and at work.

My coach Priya has really helped me a lot. She has been a good listener and has been able to understand my routine, my schedule when I travel and has accordingly helped me to adapt change.  I believe that ‘One size fits all does not work’.

People around me have been surprised with the changes they see in me. They find me lighter and positive. Personally, too positive outlook towards life is really helping me in terms of being more productive at work and overall it has made me happy in life. 

What does Coach Priya Goel have to say about her player Anand Krishnamurthy?

Anand was excited and determined when he joined Goqii. His main goal was to shed his extra kilos and become fit and active. He wants to run in marathons but, did not know how to go about his diet and activity pattern. Because of his hectic work schedule and foreign trips he was not able to continue with his workout regime.

So we have decided some health goals that will be convenient for him to achieve.

Goals were-

  1. Time interval training for 1 hour
  2. Pre and post workout snacks
  3. Water intake should be more than 3 litres.
  4. Include more protein in the diet.

Anand followed every goal very precisely and diligently and the result was there for everyone to see. Today, he runs 5 km in 30 minutes and has progressed to running 10 km in one hour. He has lost 9.5 kg weight and inches too.  It was his sheer determination that helped him reach his goals.

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