health tips Archives - Page 4 of 21

March 17, 2022 By Harpreet Kaur 7 Comments

Hair and Skincare Tips For Holi!

Holi is a festival of fun and mirth with plenty of colors and zeal. The tradition is to wish a Happy Holi by smearing colors at each other. Few decades ago, the colors used in Holi were derived from dry flowers and leaves. Even sandalwood paste, saffron, turmeric, henna and fuller’s earth were used to play Holi.

However, with rapid change in times and instant solutions, came cheaper, easily available industrial colors that replaced the natural ones. These industrial colors contain a variety of harmful compounds like malachite green, auramine, methyl violet, copper sulphate, aluminium bromide, prussian blue and cobalt nitrate. They are often mixed with starch, wheat flour and micadust.

The colors are disastrous for the skin as they increase the chances of allergies and infections. The most commonly affected areas include the face, scalp, forearms, neck and hands. So, how exactly do you avoid being affected by these harmful chemicals? The answer is quite simple!

Pre-Holi Hair and Skincare Tips

Use Organic Colors: You can make skin-friendly, natural colors at home. For instance, you can use roasted chic peas powder to make gulal. If you have hypersensitive skin, it is best to avoid chemical colors
Oil Your Way to Safety: Apply coconut oil, mustard oil or olive oil on your hair and scalp before playing Holi to prevent the color from blocking the pores
Apply Aloe Vera gel and oil on your body to create a layer of protection on the skin. Don’t forget to cover the ear area
Blend Castor Oil with Coconut Carrier Oil and apply it half an hour before playing Holi. This will protect your skin from chemicals. It also helps the colors come off easily during bath
Use Vaseline on Your Lips to keep them moisturized. You can even apply it on your ears
Use Sunscreen on your exposed skin to avoid skin damage. Try keeping yourself as covered as possible
Apply Transparent Nail Paint on your nails to prevent the color from getting inside the skin
Stay Hydrated all the time by drinking water and juices regularly

Post-Holi Hair and Skincare Tips

Clean your skin with baby oil. Do not scrub the skin for at least 48 hours post Holi
Use natural ingredients like curd and chic peas flour to exfoliate the skin and cleanse it
After bathing, apply moisturizer liberally all over to seal the moisture in
Avoid using make up or anything harsh on your skin for a few days. Let your skin breathe and get back its natural moisture
Wrap a couple of ice cubes in a thin cotton cloth and use it to soothe your face and neck area. This will help protect your skin from dryness and sunburn
Mix 2 tablespoons of Olive oil with 4 tablespoons of honey and a few drops of lemon juice. Apply this nourishing pack to your hair and scalp. Leave it on for 30 minutes and rinse it off with warm water. Use a light herbal shampoo and a good quality conditioner as well

By Adopting these simple measure before and after the festival, you can make it an enjoyable experience! Were these tips helpful? What do you do to protect your hair and skin during Holi? Let us know in the comments below!

For more on skincare, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Wish you all a Happy and Healthy Holi!

#BeTheForce

March 16, 2022 By Arooshi Garg 6 Comments

Celebrate a Skin-Friendly Holi With Natural Colors

Holi is the festival of colours in India that also marks the arrival of spring – a season of joy and hope. The festival is famous for its colours and how people apply them to each other’s face. I remember one horrendous incident a few years ago that left my face scarred due to an allergic reaction and I was on anti-allergens for over a month. The culprit was a toxic paste colour that my skin came in contact with. I, therefore, thought I should share some good ways to enjoy a safe and non-toxic Holi this year.

In the last couple of years, chemical colours are being used to celebrate Holi as they are cheaper than natural colours. Chemical colours can be very harmful to the health and skin of individuals as well as the environment.

Use of safe, natural and eco-friendly colours, can help to save our environment and conserve our biodiversity. Natural colours are obtained from skin friendly sources such as turmeric, flower extracts, sandalwood powder, mehndi (Henna), etc and are safe to use.

Here’s How You Can Create Safe, Non-toxic Colours

Brown color: Brown is one color that is never spotted anywhere in the color markets during Holi. So go ahead and surprise your visitors with this different and amazing color! Acacia catechu (Kattha) – which is commonly consumed with betel leaves (pan) gives a brownish color when mixed with water.
Other methods: Boil tea or coffee leaves in water. Cool it and use it.
Saffron: Soak a few stalks of Saffron in 2 tablespoons of water. Leave for a few hours and grind them to make a fine paste. Dilute that with water as per the desired color strength.
Other methods: The Flame of the Forest, commonly known as Test, Palash or Dhak, is the source of the wonderful, traditional color for Holi. For fragrant yellowish-orange colored water, the flowers are soaked overnight in water and can also be boiled.
Green: Save a trip to the parlor by using green colored henna powder (Mehendi) this Holi. Either use it separately or mix it with an equal quantity of any suitable flour to get a lovely and natural green shade. Make sure to use pure henna that does not have Amla (Indian Gooseberries) mixed in it, as this would be brown in color.Dry henna will not leave color on your face and can be easily brushed off. When mixed with water, it will leave a slight color, thereby making it a fast color.
Other methods: Dry and finely powder Gulmohur tree leaves or crush the tender leaves of the Wheat plant to obtain a natural green color for Holi. The color can also be obtained by mixing a fine paste of green leafy vegetables like spinach (Palak), coriander (Dhaniya) or mint (Pudina) in water.
Blue: Dry Jacaranda flowers (Neeli Gulmohar/Jungle Badam) in the shade and grind them to obtain a beautiful blue powder.
Other methods: The blue Hibiscus, which is found in Kerala, can be dried and powdered just like the red hibiscus, or crush berries of Indigo plant and add water to it as per the desired colour strength.
Yellow: Mix two teaspoons of Turmeric powder with twice the quantity of gram flour (besan). Turmeric and gram flour have magical qualities that are very good for the skin. Ordinary wheat flour (Atta), refined wheat flour (Maida), rice flour, ground nut powder, fuller`s earth (Multani Mitti) and even talcum powder can be used as substitutes for gram flour.Other methods: Flowers like Cassia fistula (Amaltas), Marigold (Gainda), Yellow Chrysanthemums and Black Babul yield different shades of yellow. Dry the petals of these flowers in the shade and crush them to obtain a fine powder. Mix an appropriate quantity of the powder with gram flour or its substitutes and see your festival come alive without any harmful effects of chemically-loaded colors.
Pink: Slice or grate one beetroot and soak it in 1 liter of water for a wonderful magenta. Boil or leave overnight for a deeper shade and dilute it before use.
Other methods: Boil the peels of 10-15 pink onions in half a liter of water for a pinkish color. Remove the peels before using them to remove any unneeded smell. You can also soak pink Bauhinia variegate (Kachnar) flowers in water overnight or boil them for a bright pink color.
Red: Red Sandal Wood Powder, which has a beautiful red color, is extremely beneficial for the skin and can be used in place of Red Gulal.
Other methods: Dry red hibiscus flowers in shade, powder and add any flour to increase the bulk. For a bright orange-red, mix a pinch of lime powder with 2 spoons of turmeric powder and a few drops of water. Use the resulting paste only after diluting it with 10 litres of water. Peels of Red Pomegranate boiled in water, juice of tomatoes and carrots diluted with sufficient quantity of water to remove the stickiness also give a natural yet beautiful red color.
Black: Last but not the least, comes black. Often derived from very dangerous sources like used batteries, this color may cause a lot of trouble later. However, for a safe black color, boil dried fruits of Indian Gooseberry (Amla) in an iron vessel and leave it overnight. Dilute with water and use.
Other methods: Extract juice of black grapes and dilute with sufficient quantity of water to remove stickiness.

Tips For a Skin-Friendly Holi:

Cover up: Nothing can beat covering the maximum part of your body with full sleeved clothes and trousers. But the old remedy of using mustard oil, coconut oil, olive oil or vaseline over your entire body on the morning of Holi does wonders in removing the colours easily
No warm water: Do not use warm water for bathing/removing colours. This can lead to the fastening of colours. Instead, always opt for cold water to wash the colours off. You should also try to remove the dry colour powder with dry hands rather than using water as it spreads even more after water application.
Stay Hydrated: Drink lots and lots of water as skin tends to get dehydrated with the use of chemicals. You can try other refreshing water-based drinks too. For instance, a virgin mint mojito, or fresh lime and buttermilk, to beat the heat out of your body!
Hair Care: Before you use a shampoo, rinse your hair with water to allow the additional colours to wash off. It is extremely vital to condition your hair to prevent any hair damage. Make a simple hair pack by soaking a few fenugreek (Methi) seeds in four tablespoons of curd. Apply this pack or egg yolk on your scalp and wash your hair with a good shampoo after 30 minutes. You can also apply a mixture of honey and olive oil for deep conditioning.
Face: Do not scrub the colour off with soap. Opt for a mild cleanser and follow it up with lots of moisturizing cream. If you feel any skin irritation during the process of taking off the colours then take 2 tbsps. of calamine powder and mix it with a few drops of honey and rosewater to make a paste. Apply this on your face and once it has dried up, wash it off with water and apply a moisturizer. You can also take off the colour with a mixture of Gram Flour (besan) and milk. If you are unable to do anything else, simply apply a generous amount of Multani-Mitti on the entire face and body to revive your skin.
Natural body scrub: You can use a homemade scrub by mixing the following ingredients: 2 tbsp. wheat bran, 1 tbsp. sandalwood powder, 1 tbsp. rice flour, along with some poppy seeds (khus-khus), few drops of honey and a mashed tomato. Scrub your body with this to clear off the colours and to bounce back to your fair and glowing skin.You can also rub a piece of papaya on coloured areas of the face and body to get rid of the colours. There is another good body scrub you can use to wash off colours. Mix curd, gram flour, orange peel powder along with little turmeric, a few drops of lemon and 1 tbsp. of olive oil. This will help clean your skin.

Post Holi Skincare Regime

For the next two weeks, apply a Multani Mitti face pack every alternate day to ensure that your skin remains soft and supple. Do not go for any skin treatments like waxing, threading, facials, or apply any other external medication on the skin for 2-3 days after Holi. Your skin is very sensitive after Holi. These treatments may cause an adverse reaction.

We hope these tips help you. For more, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

March 1, 2022 By Mamta Joshi 4 Comments

What Is The Circadian Rhythm Diet & How Does It Help?

Have you heard about the Circadian Rhythm Diet or the 7am to 7pm diet and the recommended dietary habits & restrictions it involves? Surprisingly, there are no dos and don’ts on eating. It’s all about when you should eat. The basic idea of this diet is to reset meal timings to the same one as our ancestors i.e. between sunrise and sunset – basically scheduling meals during daylight hours.

Circadian Rhythm Diet also known as Body Clock Diet is basically a form of time restricted eating plan where we eat in sync with the body’s internal clock which gets regulated by change within the environment, mainly, light and darkness, and are controlled by a small area in the middle of the brain. This can affect metabolism, hunger, sleep, body temperature and other bodily functions.

The hormone cortisol, also known as the “get up and go” hormone is linked with body metabolism and hence weight. It rises and falls during the course of the day. If someone eats when metabolism is at peak, calories consumed would be utilized well and not deposited as fat. On the other hand, food eaten at the wrong time may lead to weight gain.

Circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats every 24 hours and can be divided into 2 phases:

Eating and metabolizing phase: Metabolism is high when cortisol is at its peak and slow when cortisol levels are down. The body releases cortisol naturally twice per day: once in the early morning and later in the evening and at that time, the stomach too is ready with the right amount of hormones and digestive enzymes and even good gut microbes to digest the food. So for health benefits eat with the Sun. In response to daylight, cortisol rises, insulin sensitivity increases and melatonin decreases, making one feel active and energized. Cortisol supports thyroid function and metabolism, and contributes to the energy needed to complete daily tasks.
Resting and healing phase: When the sun sets, the body naturally wants to wind up and prepare for sleep. The sleep inducing hormone melatonin rises up, while cortisol and insulin sensitivity reduces. So food consumed later at night when cortisol levels are decreasing is more likely to be stored as fat.

As soon as one finishes dinner, the body slowly gets slow on metabolism, the body clock resets, going into repair and rejuvenation mode so that damaged cells can be repaired and replaced with healthy new cells and allergy causing chemicals or pathogens cannot attack the body. Thus, late night munching leads to weight gain and it disrupts the body’s natural healing mechanism too.

Highlights Of The Circadian Rhythm Diet

Eat during daylight.
Have breakfast and lunch as the biggest meals of the day, and dinner, the smallest.
Have about 75% of nutrition before 3 pm
Do not eat anything post dinner.

Benefits Of This Diet

Helps maximize weight loss efforts
Reduces the risk of obesity
Improves digestive health
Improves metabolism
Improves sleep, mood and energy levels
Reduces inflammation in the body
Lowers the risk of type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Promotes longevity

Those who schedule their meals between 12 hours (7 am to 7 pm) might have a much better circadian rhythm and health unlike those who delay dinner and eat within 15-16 hours (7am to 11pm or more). After 12-16 hours of fasting when we have the next meal i.e. breakfast – the body gets enough time to heal/repair as required. Don’t eat anything post dinner as the body enters the healing and rejuvenation mode. Compounds that encourage the inflammatory response rise at night. This is likely because the body is better at fighting infections while it is at rest, and energy can be poured into the effort, rather than into other functions like metabolism.

Even if the food choice & calorie consumed is the same, those who eat during daylight have better health than those who delay. Food at the wrong time can disturb the internal clock and break the metabolic balance in our body, and that can push us towards disease. Biological rhythms are meant to protect us. Disturbing this rhythm can lead to weight gain, hormonal issues, mental health issues, metabolic diseases like type -2 diabetes and heart problems.

So do give this Circadian Rhythm Diet a go and let us know what you feel in the comments below! We hope this article helps you. For more informative articles such as this, check out Healthy Reads or you can get this information directly from a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

February 8, 2022 By Kusum Soni Leave a Comment

Why You Need to Use Mustard Oil During Winter

In most parts of India, winters offer a reprieve from the unbearable heat. But, the winter chills bring a host of other complications due to the change in weather. These complications include cold, dryness, the Winter Itch, cough, joint pains and cracked heels, etc. Instead of exploring multiple medications, what if there was one single cure for most of these ailments? Have you considered using Mustard Oil during Winter?

Mustard Oil is loaded with MUFA (Monounsaturated Fatty Acids), PUFA (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids), Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids, Vitamin E, Minerals and Antioxidants. It also demonstrates strong anti-microbial properties and is anti-inflammatory in nature.

How to Use Mustard Oil During Winter

Due to the properties mentioned above, Mustard Oil offers a number of benefits which can help alleviate most issues caused by the cold weather.

1. Cold, Cough and Congestion
Dust, dryness and cold temperatures all add to cold & coughs during winter. Mustard Oil has a warm effect that helps in clearing congestion from the respiratory tract. You can rub about a teaspoon of mustard oil on your chest before sleeping to get relief. To clear nasal congestion, add a few drops of Mustard Oil to a vessel of boiling water and inhale the steam. Another remedy is to rub a mixture of 1 /tbsp warm Mustard Oil and 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic on your feet.

2. Joint Pains
It is often observed that in cold weather, the human body conserves more heat, and more blood is circulated to the heart and lungs. When this happens, the arms, shoulders, knee joints and blood vessels may contract, causing pain. Due to its strong anti-inflammatory and stimulant property, Mustard Oil helps in improving circulation. A regular massage with Mustard Oil helps in relieving aching joints and muscles. It even provides relief and comfort in arthritis.

3. Itchy Skin
Cold temperature with low humidity results in winter itch. The skin tends to get dry, cracked and dull. Using a natural moisturizer like Mustard Oil is healthier for the skin. It aids healing, smoothening and gives a glow due to its thick consistency, high levels of Vitamin E and anti-inflammatory properties.

4. Cracked Heels
This is another bothersome problem during winter. You can use wax from waste candles to say goodbye to cracked heels. Just make a mixture of candle wax with an equal amount of Mustard Oil by heating, so that it becomes a thick mixture. Let it cool and apply this mixture on cracked heels and sleep with cotton socks to heal your heels.

5. Hair Loss
The cold winds of winter bring havoc to the tresses, leading to hair loss and development of split ends. With the dry air and much more by the use of hats, dryers and other heat treatments, hair tends to become dry, frizzy and rough. Massaging the scalp with Mustard Oil during winter stimulates hair growth by improving blood circulation in the scalp. It is packed with vitamins and minerals, particularly, a high amount of beta-carotene which is excellent for hair growth when converted into vitamin A in the body. Besides, it also contains iron, fatty acids, calcium and magnesium – all of which nourish the hair and aid growth. Due to its thick consistency, it keeps the moisture in the hair intact and gives it the required nourishment to stay healthy and shining.

6. Cardiovascular Health
Most of us are unaware of the fact that winter is one of the prime seasons for heart attacks. Given the warming qualities of Mustard Oil, it is also used internally i.e. in food. The antibacterial properties of Mustard Oil helps in fighting bacterial infections in the colon, intestines and other parts of the digestive tract. A recent comparative study done on different varieties of edible oils showed that mustard oil reduced the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 70 per cent, when used in moderation. A high percentage of both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats help to maintain good heart health. It also lowers bad cholesterol.

So what are you waiting for? If you’ve experienced any of the above, use Mustard Oil during Winter now! We hope this article helps you enjoy this season to the fullest. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below.

For more useful winter tips, check out Healthy Reads. You can also purchase some healthy and organic Mustard Oil for a discount using your GOQii Cash on the GOQii Health Store within the app.

#BeTheForce