Search Results for: work from home

February 29, 2016 By Ruta Satam 2 Comments

From Soul to Sole

Just as clothes are important to cover oneself, Shoes is also important to cover your feet from the hard ground. Lack of a shoe in your feet can cause a lot of wear and tear in the foot tendons, ligaments as well as bones. Additionally, hookworms, a leading cause of disease in developing countries, enter the body through the foot, usually when a person steps in infected dirt. The use of shoes is the best way to prevent infection by hookworms.

Sadly, today a lot of people and children alike from the background walk barefoot, not by choice, but because they cannot afford a pair of shoes or slippers. And then there is this affluent class or fairly privileged class of people who have several pairs of shoes and seldom know what to do with the extra pair that has got old and lying in the corner.

Understanding this disparity and the importance of footwear for one and all, two young lads from Mumbai Shreyans Bhandari and Ramesh Dhami started Green Sole, a social venture that collects discarded shoes, refurbishes them and makes comfortable footwear for the underprivileged.

The idea is to provide these shoes to the neediest through corporate, NGOs and schools. The seeds of this idea was sowed when Shreyans and Ramesh started running for fitness and ran hundreds of kilo meters every year participating in various Marathons. And through their runs they also lost three to four pairs of sport shoes each year.

They found that the soles were in good condition but, the shoe sides tore within months. The duo wondered if they could find some use for the intact soles of these quality sport shoes. Research led them to the idea of recycling and refurbishing them into trendy slippers. That brainwave eventually spawned an eco-friendly enterprise that reuses shoe soles and is appropriately named “Greensole”.

So far Greesole has distributed over 3000 footwear in Kondana village, Maharashtra and to homeless in Mumbai. There are several corporate entities who are joining this initiative of collecting old shoes and donating them to Greensole.

GOQii haspart of their Karma initiative has partnered with Greensole to provide its users a platform where they can donate their footwear or contribute their karma points towards those individuals who are deprived of a footwear. The idea is walk more to get healthy.

GOQii and Greensole will also be hosting on-ground workshops for GOQii users and provide all those interested an opportunity to lend their hands to make shoes for the under-privileged.

To know more about Greensole, please visit their website http://www.greensole.in/

Reference:

February 9, 2016 By Parwage Alam Leave a Comment

5 basic exercises to shed your excess weight –Part 1

In today’s hectic life – with packed schedules, calendars have no column for relaxation or time for doing anything good. This also translates into “No Time” for eating healthy food which invariably leads one to have all sorts of JUNK food available on the menu. and is a ready to eat option. Outcome of overeating junk food is ‘excess weight’.

Excess weight slowly and steadily leads to Obesity and to shed this excess weight and get back on track becomes a huge task. Nevertheless it is not impossible if one puts in the effort, had dedication and patience. Exercise is the key to creating a physically, mentally, and emotionally healthier body. However, at the same time, some of the moves may be too painful or nearly impossible for those who are heavy.

Here are some basic exercise which can be done to avoid unhealthy lifestyle, without any harm:

Walking–This is one of the best and basic workouts that can be done by one and all, anywhere without spending a single penny and is a low-impact aerobic exercise. It may still be difficult to work for those who are morbidly corpulent, which is when baby steps need to be implemented with a walker, walking cane, or assistance. Slow walking burns extra calories for those carrying extra weight because they have to exert more energy than a normal-weight person.

Exercise Ball Workouts: people on the heavier side often find it difficult to exercise in front of others. The best solution in this case is Exercise Ball, which is really a great help to do different workouts at home. An exercise ball will help them to do the variety of strengthening, toning, stretching and balancing exercises with support. Exercise balls can be used for abdominal crunches by lying on your back, setting your ankles onto the ball, and lifting upward with your core and both arms behind your head.

You can do:

# “Bouncing On the Ball Workout” targets: core, quads, glutes, and hamstrings

# “Inner-Thigh Squeeze Workout”, targets – Strengthens inner thighs and core

# “Half Squat” with the help of Exercise Ball and wall”, which targets: Strengthens abs, glutes, and hamstrings

Once you get comfortable with the ball, try incorporating it into your everyday activities, such as sitting on it while you are on the computer, eating at the dinner table, or reading a book.

Aqua Aerobics: You can perform your exercise under water because water makes you feel lighter by helping to support your body weight. It also lessens the impact on your joints. You can do swimming if you know.

For more read my Blog “One-Stop Shop Workout – Swimming”: http://goqii.com/blog/one-stop-shop-workout-swimming/

Seated Stationary Bike: The seated or recumbent stationary bike is different than a normal upright exercise bike. It provides a backrest optimal for heavier or obese people who haven’t developed a strong enough abdominal core to hold them upright long enough. It also places less stress on your lower spine, which is a frequent problem for those who are heavy. Biking also engages different muscles than walking or running do. Alternating exercise days between biking and brisk walking will also give the body a dynamic bonus aerobic workout.

Group Exercise Classes: There are chances that you will get bored and demotivated if you are working out alone. The best way then to motivate yourself is by joining a group exercise class that has people who all have similar goals such as yours. Each of them then motivates the other to achieve the respective goals. Initially, it will be difficult to achieve your goal, but with the continuous motivation and effort, you will achieve your goal.

Get up set your goal and start working towards it.

Look forward to the second part of my blog where I will take you through some more exercises.

Note: Please consult your Doctor before including the above exercises into your routine, as an individual’s body and medical conditions vary.

January 11, 2016 By Hetal Chheda Leave a Comment

Mother Earth’s miraculous produce-Wood Apple

Bael fruit also known as wood apple, elephant fruit, Monkey fruit, curd fruit or limonia acidissima is yet another miraculous produce by our mother earth.

This fruit is native to India, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Pakistan, Java and South East Asia. It is called as Elephant fruit because it is elephant’s favourite fruit. It tastes sour, sweet and bitter. The fruits grow between the months of October and March.

The reason I call it miraculous fruit is because it is the most sacred fruit. Ayurveda refers to the fruit of the bael as the fruit of nectar (amrutphal). It is believed that all the diseases can be cured using bael. It has its significance in spiritual (leaves offered to Lord Shiva) and Ritual purposes too.

Almost all the parts of the tree like roots, leaves, seeds, the branches are utilized for medicinal purposes. I have some memories of this fruits as a child,’ Every time I saw this fruit I would ask my mom to buy it for me, because it tastes very sbenefits our at times she would deny.’ Little did we both know about the benefits this fruit has in curing day to day ailments and it is the best home remedy for almost all ailments? It is meant for all can cure all age groups ranging from children to geriatrics.

What are the benefits of eating this fruit (Roots, leaves, stem)

Diabetes

Juice from the leaves of this tree helps in managing the blood sugar level as well as urination among diabetic person.

Hypertension

Bael leaf juice (boil dried bael leaves in water) helps in managing the hypertension.

Appetite enhancer

It enhances the appetite if bael leaves powder is taken continuous for some days.

Indigestion and Constipation

Wood apple cures the problem of indigestion and constipation if it is consumed daily (not more than a cup) with jaggery for 2-3 months.

Removes toxins

Bael when consumed with black pepper and salt regularly will help in removing toxins from the body. This cleanses the colon.

Prevents breast cancer in women

Bael is anti-proliferative and inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

Regularizes Progesterone hormone

Eating Bael fruit helps the secretion of progesterone hormone.

Increases breast milk production

It is very beneficial for lactating mother as this helps increase the milk production when combined with dry Giner and Jaggery.

Apart from these many other benefits have been noted. It helps in keeping the skin and hair healthy. It is anti-inflammatory, cures acidity and respiratory disease. The benefits are endless.

What are you waiting for, just grab this green coloured magic and see it work on you.

November 19, 2015 By Vrushali Athavle 1 Comment

Do you know about NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)?

Are you one of those who know the importance of exercising but still give excuses for not working out regularly? Several research reports have indicated that like “Cigarette smoking is injurious to health”, there is a new saying in the health industry “Sitting is injurious to health” Sitting in one place for a long time can cause serious health issues.

Here is a quick fix for all the people who have sedentary lifestyle and job and do not get time to work out.
NEAT – also known as ‘Non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ include those activities which require to move the smallest muscle of the body due to which some energy expenditure occur. These exercises will not include very minimal movements like those while sleeping or eating and also will not include activities like sports where there is lot of calorie burning. Basically, it includes activities like walking to office, gardening, standing rather than sitting, gardening, doing household chores, carrying grocery bags in hand instead of using a trolley etc.
For more clarity on NEAT let’s take a peek into the various daily examples:

Brush to burn calories:

Instead of lazing around with a brush in your mouth stand near the wash basin with one leg lifted. This will help you strengthen your core and at the same time improve your concentration and balance.

Serve yourself:

Next thing which we usually do is to call out loud for tea/coffee or breakfast from the living room to the person in the kitchen. Instead, go ahead and serve yourself. This will ensure your sluggish metabolism is waking up slowing to burn more calories.

Catch up with some exercise on the way to office:

** Take the stair wherever possible and skip the elevators. This could be your building stairs or railway station stairs if you travel by train or walk up to the office in your building which is on the 7th or 8th floor. If climbing 7 floors seems tiring, climb 2 to 3 floors and take a lift for remaining. Climbing stairs is a great way to burn calories and strengthen your legs.”

** Sitting at the desk for long hours is the most dangerous thing as we just discussed in the beginning of this blog. Here is the solution- get up from your chair every 1 hour, do certain stretches, instead of asking the office boy to fill up your water bottle take a stroll and refill it yourself, talk to your friends and come back to your seat and continue with your work.

Stand up and stretch every time you hit ‘send’ on an e-mail.”

Use “Walk n talk method” i.e start walking while you are on long conversations on call.
(i) While sitting on a chair, raise one heel or both the heels then one leg and then both the legs while seated. This turn outs to be the best exercise for lower body, Similarly stretch out arms and do some free hand arm exercises or pick up water bottles and do some bicep curls which can be some good upper body workouts.
(ii) To strengthen the core, sit on a ball which forces you to balance yourself keeping your core engaged full time. If this is not possible in office, try out this ball method at home while watching television or eating dinner, playing video/mobile games or reading.

4) Get a Pedometer

Pedometer like GOQii band can be best used to motivate you by tracking the steps and kms everyday. To make this more interesting decide on certain weekly targets to completing steps target.
In a nutshell the above proves that there is no way you can say ‘I have a sedentary job’. NEAT exercises help you to shift your sedentary job to a bit active one with very simple efforts. Once you incorporate these activities, lot more will come to your mind.

Let me know “How do you squeeze extra activity into your day?”

From Soul to Sole

5 basic exercises to shed your excess weight –Part 1

Mother Earth’s miraculous produce-Wood Apple

Do you know about NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)?

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