healthy habits Archives

November 10, 2021 By Navnee Garg 2 Comments

This is What Binge Watching is Doing to Your Health!

I’m writing this blog with a pinch of salt because recently, I’ve been binge-watching as well. While stuck in this trap, I realized that this is something serious and needs to be addressed. Binge-watching may not be a new concept but it is quickly becoming the new normal. Thanks to the online streaming boom, you no longer need to watch a single episode with multiple commercial breaks and a cliff-hanger that keeps you biting your nails for another week.

Imagine having an entire series at your fingertips minus the ads. Now imagine what this much entertainment might be doing to you. We all remember Uncle Ben’s quote from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” If you’re not responsible enough with your time, can you imagine what binging can do to your personal and professional health?

How Binge-Watching Affects Your Health

Kills Time: The humour or suspense in the story will make you want to spend hours watching episode after episode without even realizing. Binge-watching may result in slipping grades, being late to work or class and most of all, not being active.
Hello Heath Risks: Sitting for long stretches of time increases your risk of health issues (including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer), even if you also exercise regularly. If you must binge, make it healthier by standing, stretching, and taking mini-breaks for physical activity.
Addiction: While binge-viewing can be fun and feel satisfying, there’s always the danger of becoming too obsessed. Behaviour also becomes addictive when it begins to negatively affect other aspects of your life. For instance, if you neglect other activities or responsibilities to binge.
Antisocial Alert: Binge watching tends to be a pretty isolating activity. You’re taking time away from other essential things in life like hanging out with friends or working.
Binge Watching = Binge Eating: While watching an entire season of a show that caught your eye, you often tend to munch on a bag of chips, bowl of popcorn or multiple chocolate bars at the same time with an accompaniment of a soft drink or two. This happens due to mindless eating which ultimately leads to weight gain and health issues.

Is There a Way to Stay Healthy?

If you must binge, then here are a few tips that will help you be more mindful and make healthy choices consciously.

If you binge, make it healthy by standing, stretching, and taking mini-breaks for physical activity.
Try having breaks between episodes and not snacking while you watch. This would avoid mindless eating, and thus, avoid weight gain.
Prefer watching with family & friends. Chatting with fellow fans about the show can also make your binge habit healthier since it pulls you away from the main screen and allows you to reflect on what you’ve just watched.
Use Time Management as a tool to avoid wastage of time. Prefer setting a particular time slot for your favourite series in your daily routine.

However, Binge Watching is incomplete without Binge Eating. The only option left here is to choose healthier alternatives such as baked kale chips, simple roasted chickpeas, apple chips, salt and vinegar Zucchini chips, nuts and seeds mix, etc.

If you’re looking for more tips to live a healthier lifestyle, you can explore Healthy Reads or connect with a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

April 7, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Improve Your Health With Lifestyle Coaching!

Have you ever accidentally stubbed your toe on the edge of some furniture in your house and writhed in pain, contemplating all the ways in which you could have avoided this agonizing experience? While nursing that bruised toe, we think about all the ways in which we could have been mindful or aware and how we could have prevented this mishap. We never realize what could have been unless it is too late. More than often, this is the case with health too.

The ongoing pandemic only made us realize the importance of health and the need to build and maintain a strong immune system. As per the India Fit Report 2020, we saw that a majority of people followed different methods to build their immunity. Some of these methods included drinking lemon water, trying Kadhas, immunity supplements and Ayurveda among other home remedies. While there is nothing wrong with using nutrition to improve your health, are you taking the right quantities? Do you really need vitamin supplements? What kind of food does your body need if you have certain health conditions? How much exercise is good for you? Are you monitoring your sleep and managing your stress?

The Need For Health and Lifestyle Coaching

If the above questions got you thinking, it’s time to connect with an expert and we’ve got a few reasons why that might be a good idea.

Modifications Based On Need: Is your goal to lose weight or gain weight? Do you want to strengthen your immunity? At this point, we’ve got to realize that one shoe doesn’t fit everyone. Each person is unique and requires a different approach to improve their health. This is where a lifestyle coach or an expert comes in and guides you based on what your health goal is.
Save Time On Scrolling: There’s nothing wrong about taking accountability of your health by trying to be your own coach but mindlessly scrolling on different websites trying to figure out the best way to improve your health can be a dicey affair. A coach interacts with you and guides you in real time and is aware of any pre-existing conditions and this can help you avoid eating the wrong food, performing a wrong exercise and helps you take better decisions for better health.
Making Sense Of Data: Using trackers and fitness bands help you monitor your health. They let you know your heart rate, step count, blood pressure and with devices like the VitalECG and the Smart Vital, you are able to track various parameters. But once lyou get that data, how do you make sense of it? You need someone to analyze your data, interpret it and find solutions to any existing problems. That someone is your Lifestyle Coach!
Improve Knowledge and Accountability: Don’t know how to deal with a persistent headache? Confused about mid-meals? How much portions should you be consuming? Which exercise can you perform to strengthen your back? A Coach can help you answer all these questions and more! Since you have a Personal Coach, you will be accountable to that person which means visible changes once you follow the modifications they suggest.
Setting Realistic Goals: The most important point! The number 1 reason most people fail to stick to their health goal is because they set unrealistic numbers. For instance, trying to lose 30kg in 2 months is not realistic and is definitely not healthy. A coach can help you understand why and how you can gradually lose weight and suggest the best practices for sustainable weight management. With correct and achievable goals as well as visible results, you’ll always be motivated!

It’s always better to rely on a Coach and have the right guidance in order to avoid making mistakes with your health. Given these precarious times, it is always better to follow the right practices and stay at the peak of your health.

If you’re unable to find a Coach, then head on to the GOQii App and subscribe for a Personal Care Plan now! Alternatively, if you’re looking for ways to improve your health, tune in to our Instagram page today for tips from some of the best health experts in the industry. To read more on how you can improve your health and lifestyle, check out Healthy Reads!

Stay Healthy and #BeTheForce

May 22, 2020 By Soni Thakur 4 Comments

Is This The Best Time To Make A Positive Lifestyle Change?

There are a number of people who motivate themselves to make positive lifestyle changes to eat better, exercise more, practise yoga and sleep adequately. They have tried before, probably declaring another attempt as a New Year’s resolution. After working hard for a week or two that resolution was found resting in the corner due to lack of time, energy and motivation.

Making a lifestyle change is challenging especially when you want to make so many changes at a time. It takes time and requires your full commitment and dedication once you are ready to make a change.

Some Tips To Make A Positive Lifestyle Change

Make a plan you think you can stick to
Start small
Choose one behaviour change at a time
Make some friends with the same goal
Ask for expert support

As we are all in lockdown, it’s a good break from our fast-paced life. We were complaining about not getting enough time to work out, to eat healthy home-cooked food, to meditate to relieve stress and ditch that alarm clock and sleep a little more. Well, here it is!

This is the best time to make a lifestyle change and reset our biological clock back to normal by balancing all four important components of our body which are: Balanced diet, Exercise, Adequate sleep and Stress management.

We hope this article helps you make a positive lifestyle change. For motivation, healthy recipes and more, you can check out the GOQii Blog or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play for home workouts, meditation, emotional wellness, learning music, yoga and more!

Stay home, stay positive and #BeTheForce!

October 22, 2019 By Sunita Arora 1 Comment

11 Unhealthy Habits That Are Destroying Your Health

Old habits die hard and that’s true. Habits are stored in our subconscious mind. We keep on carrying out tasks or habits, without even realizing we are doing it. While some habits help us complete day to day activities, there are some which aren’t good for our health, especially the ones which affect our diet. It is crucial to follow habits which have a positive impact on health. It is time to identify unhealthy habits and get rid of them for good health’s sake.

Unhealthy Habits You Need to Stop

Skipping Breakfast: For some people, skipping breakfast is an easy way to cut calories. However, if you skip breakfast, you’ll probably overeat during lunch. Secondly, in the morning, our metabolic rate is high. To maintain it, we need to give enough fuel to our body in the form of breakfast. So you should not skip your morning meal at any cost.
Emotional Eating: If you are stressed or if you’ve had a bad day, call a friend, listen to music, write in a journal or try going for a walk. These options are better than binge-eating junk food due to emotional reasons.
Including Unhealthy Drinks: At some point, we all reach out for a soft drink after a meal. It has somehow become a norm. Sweetened/Aerated drinks increase your daily calorie intake and cause other health issues. Instead, drink lemon water, coconut water or buttermilk. In fact, you can make your own healthy energy drinks!
Eating Out Frequently: Avoid the habit to grab something unhealthy when going out for a long day. Take healthier shortcuts! Eat a vegetable sandwich, protein salads, whole grain crackers & veggies with humus. You can even carry fresh fruits.
Munching While Watching TV or During Long Drives: Try to avoid unnecessary munching while watching your favorite program or when you are on a long drive or a road trip. Instead of having processed foods like chips, cookies, etc. you can have a handful of nuts, air popcorn, seed trail-mix and unsalted peanuts.
Lack of Sleep: Sleep works as nutrition for the brain. Our body needs 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Less than 8 hour of sleep triggers a cortisol spike and hampers our metabolism and contributes to weight gain. Shut your computer, mobile, and TV at least an hour before sleeping.
Long Gap Between Meals: There shouldn’t be a huge time gap between meals. When you are on a weight loss journey, you shouldn’t just be careful about the food you eat but the time you eat as well! Many studies show that, if you are not eating at the right time, you might not be able to achieve your weight loss goals. The ideal gap between breakfast – Lunch & lunch –dinner should not exceed 4 hours.
Eating Late at Night: You should not eat dinner very late as it promotes weight gain. Your last meal or your dinner should always be 3 hours before bedtime.
Consuming Extra Salt: Eating a lot of salt can cause an increase in water weight and fat in your body. If you eat too much salt, extra water gets stored in your body which can raise your blood pressure. Higher blood pressure leads to heart attacks, strokes and kidney diseases. Avoid sauces, pickles, sprinkling extra on salad & curd in your meals.
Eating Heavy Meals Close to Bedtime: Avoid eating heavy meals close to bedtime, it can cause acidity, severe heartburn and make difficult to fall asleep. Also avoid tea, coffee, and chocolate in the evening because caffeine can stay in our system for 5-6 hrs and suppress the sleep hormone.
Putting Calorie Restrictions: Eating more calories than your body needs will lead to weight gain. Whereas, eating lesser calories than your body needs will lead to weight loss. However, restricting calories too much may slow down metabolism, can cause fatigue, nutrient deficiencies and lower immunity too.

These 11 unhealthy habits can contribute to weight gain, affect metabolism and can be extremely detrimental to your health. Avoid them and adopt a healthier lifestyle. For tips on how to improve your health, do watch our expert coaches live on GOQii Play within the GOQii App or reach out to your personal coach via subscription.

We hope this article has helped you. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below!

#BeTheForce