christmas tips Archives

December 25, 2020 By Pritika Saraogi 4 Comments

12 Tips For a Healthy Christmas Week

Want to avoid looking like Santa this festive season? You’re sailing on eating right and exercising daily, then boom — the holidays are here, just waiting to put a kink in your routine! Food is everywhere. Spare time is nowhere. Add this to the emotions and stress of the season, and you’re sure to have a recipe for disastrous weight gain. Here are some tips to help you stay on course of your health goals and celebrate a Healthy Christmas Week!

Tips For a Healthy Christmas Week

Quality Over Quantity: Learn to avoid mindlessly accepting whatever is offered and instead hold out for the snack you value the most, and have just a few. If possible, opt for something baked instead of going for something that’s deep-friend.
Eat Slowly. Enjoy. Move away: If your weakness is salted nuts, you can easily eat double the prescribed quantity and not notice. While the fat in nuts is the healthy unsaturated type that doesn’t clog up your arteries, when it comes to your waistline, calories are calories. Solution? Have a taste, eat it slowly and really enjoy it. “Try to chew your food well, concentrate on the flavour you’re getting and appreciate the goodness”. Then, move away from the source so you can’t keep eating more than your fill.
Beware of the Buffet: People look at a buffet as though it’s their last meal on earth. The smartest thing to do when you’re surrounded by so much temptation is to just walk around and eye everything first. Then go back and take a bit of what you really like. Before doing so, ask yourself, “Do I really want this?” Avoid the trap of thinking you have to get your money’s worth. If you don’t let it go to waste, it will end up around your waist.
Watch Your Drinks: Alcohol plays a big part in Christmas weight gain. Sometimes, when surrounded by family and friends, you never know when 1 drink can lead to 10. Your best bet is to put a cap on the amount of drinks you’ll have. Set your limit to 3 drinks and space them out. In fact, if you can dilute your drink with water or ice, go for it! Opting to be the nominated driver might just give you the excuse to not drink at all!
Keep Up Some Activity: Did you know that dancing can help you burn off calories. Good way to shake a leg and shake off some extra calories as well. If dancing is not your thing, try brisk walking in the cool early morning breeze. Should work as a good start to the day. Don’t even miss out on a post-dinner stroll with family, friends or your loved one. It can be magical!
Make Sure You Log: Logging food, water intake and exercise can keep you accountable. Don’t look at it like a burden. This will help you stay on track and keep an account of what you’ve been eating and drinking. Be honest and log exactly what you eat!
Earn Your Treats Before You Indulge: Treats aren’t really enjoyable if they just leave you feeling guilty afterwards. Eat healthy the day before heading out to that holiday party or work up a sweat before sitting down for a big holiday meal. It will help you feel less guilty and have a good time as well.
Listen to Your Tummy: The human body has an amazing ability to regulate food intake… if we actually listen to it! If you overindulge at a holiday feast, hold off on eating until you truly feel hungry again. Don’t eat just because there’s only one slice of pie left on the table, or because your Christmas Brunch begins at 10 AM. If you’re not hungry, sip on some tea or coffee while everyone else digs in, and make yourself a small plate later. It’ll be there when your tummy grumbles!
Just Say NO to Food Pushers: Food pushers are the people who seem to believe that their holiday celebration isn’t complete until you give in to their food weaknesses. You know them — the co-worker with a jar of candies, mom and her apple pie, the friend who won’t let you leave without a plate of cookies. It’s OK to politely say, “No! Thank you!” It won’t hurt your relationship.
Just Do It: Schedule your exercise time. Not only will you feel better about the indulgences that come with the holidays, but exercise also will help relieve holiday stress. Take something out of your schedule if you need to, but not exercise. The endorphins from working out will only boost your holiday spirit!
Share the Love: When going to a holiday gathering, bring a healthy dish that everyone can enjoy without feeling guilty.
Snack before the party: Avoid going to holiday parties on an empty stomach. Eat a light and healthy snack, such as one with protein that will keep you feeling full, before heading out. This will help you avoid overindulging later. Try a protein bar or some nuts and seeds. You can browse an array of options from the GOQii Health Store within the app.

We hope you try these tips and tricks to Level Up your holidays! Here’s to a happy and healthier you!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

#BeTheForce

December 27, 2019 By Luke Coutinho 2 Comments

Holiday Health Tips: It’s All In The Chew!

It’s precisely between this week and January 1st when people tend to put on most of their weight. There are two reasons for this. The crazy festive season filled with weddings and parties and then Christmas, New Year Eve and the fact that people tend to let loose during this time, with the justification that they will start anew with ‘healthy new year resolutions’ from January onwards.

What if I told, you could enjoy this season and it would not impact your weight?
What if I told you that snacking on a cookie or dessert here or there would not impact your weight goals?
What if I told you that you could eat rice / Roti / Bread at lunch and dinner, and it would not impact your weight or health?
What if you could enjoy this festive season, have loads of fun, eat your favourite foods and still maintain your health and weight?

The human body is a miracle and we are living examples of this miracle. The way our brain and body functions, blood flow, smell, feelings, emotions, the ability to recover from the deadliest of diseases, and the ability of our cells to heal and repair. Every day, trillions of cells in our body work non-stop to fight out germs and bacteria all around us, which if infects us, we could fall very sick and even die. That miracle is called ‘ immunity’.

Our stomach produces sufficient acid to melt down a razor blade. Such is the power of our digestive system. So what’s an ice- cream or a chocolate bar or a cookie going to do when it finds its way into our stomachs? Our body is made to digest the hardest of foods. Red meat is tough to digest but the body will break it down. Vegetarians don’t escape either. Cellulose in vegetables are extremely difficult to break down, but the body breaks it down eventually (this is one reason that vegetarians suffer from more flatulence than non vegetarians).

The body can break down meats and vegetables and that dessert. The secret lies in the ‘chew’. The reason food tastes so good is because you’re supposed to enjoy it—slow down and savor it, not just get it to your stomach as quickly as possible.

How Does Chewing Thoroughly Help?

Chewing your food thoroughly is actually the first step in the complex process of digestion, and if you glaze over it, just chewing the minimum amount of times necessary to get the food down your esophagus, you’re actually compromising this process. And that’s the mistake many people make.

We have teeth not just to smile or picture pretty. The primary function of teeth is to tear down and break up food into small bits. Saliva mixes with these small bits, further softening them, and guess what?

Let me get down to some basics!

Why Should You Chew Your Food Thoroughly?

When you chew, more saliva gets produced and your saliva contains enzymes that break down FATS and CARBS. Yes!!! Digestion starts in the MOUTH! By the time your food reaches your stomach, it’s already processed by enzymes and your stomach has no issues in completing the assimilation/digestion process.

You feel light
You feel full for a longer period of time.
You do away with flatulence, gas, indigestion, burping.
You learn to savour and enjoy the taste of your food.
Your body absorbs all the goodness of your food (vitamins, minerals) better.
You eat exactly how much your body needs, to you maintain or arrive at a healthy weight

Imagine all the times you gobble down your food. You have undigested chunks sitting in your stomach, giving rise to gas, discomfort and chances are that most of your food gets converted to fat.

Chew your food. Enjoy a dessert but eat it slow, savour it and over time, you will learn not to abuse it. The more you chew your food, the cleaner you keep your intestines, stomach and colon because the body can quickly cleanse itself when digestion happens the right way.

Say bye to constipation, fatigue and migraines/headaches.

Try this exercise today:

The next meal, eat it really slow. Take a spoon of food, chew it several times, savour the flavour and taste, and then swallow. Put your spoon down.

Then take the next. You will find yourself getting fuller quickly, and then you should stop eating. This way you save on calories you intake and over time, this will become a habit and you will serve yourself less food. Less food equals less calories, better health, longer life and a healthy weight.

Take 1 serving spoon less at every meal, chew and eat your food. You will find that it is enough and all these save spoons of food which add up to a lot of calories saved. You will lose fat and you will feel healthier

Diseases are caused in most cases by overeating, and we always think how much we eat is enough, but it may not be correct, if you have been eating your meals fast. Chew your food and you will never have to diet. Your meal time is more important that your work, respect it. That’s your personal time between you and your body, where you feed and nourish it to keep you healthy and strong to do your work and live well.

This is a lifestyle change, and if you master it, you can enjoy all the foods you like in moderation.