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Healthy Eating: How to Prepare Thick Curd At Home

homemade curdWho doesn’t enjoy a bowl of curd? With its many health benefits and the million different ways in which you can consume it, curd is almost irreplaceable. Did you ever wonder how curd came to be discovered? Was it made with intention?

History suggests that curd, like many other fermented milk products, was discovered by accident! It was primarily due to milk being left unattended for a long time which initiated curdling. Basically, the milk began souring as a result of microbial action. A microorganism called Lactobacillus is responsible for the curdling of milk.

Curd is considered to be a superfood as it is rich in proteins, provides the body with Vitamin B and Calcium and is a fantastic Probiotic and is good for the gut. However, there are many who still struggle to make good thick curd at home and dependent on packaged curd.

So let us learn to make thick, perfect curd at home!

What You Will Need

  • Milk – 500 ml
  • Curd – 2 tsp
  • Water – 2 tsp

How to Prepare Thick Curd

  1. In a pan add milk and allow it to boil. Keep stirring it lightly.
  2. After the milk comes to a boil, switch off the flame and let it cool down.
  3. Now take a bowl, add 2 tsp of curd and 2 tsp water & whisk it together.
  4. Once the milk cools down, remove the cream from the milk and strain the milk in a bowl.
  5. In the strained milk, add 2 tbsp of curd + water mixture & mix well.
  6. Cover the bowl and keep it in a warm and dry space for 4-5 hours to set.
  7. Refrigerate the curd for an hour before you serve it.

Things to Keep in Mind  

  • Do not use skim milk for making curd, it will be runny.
  • The milk should not be very hot when you add culture in it otherwise the curd will coagulate
  • Never forget to remove cream

Benefits of Homemade Thick Curd

  • Curd which is commercially available is the result of a straining process that removes the liquid whey, resulting in thicker curd.
  • In its traditional form, the curd is far more nutrient-dense and is rich in high-quality protein, beneficial probiotics and cancer-fighting linoleic acid.
  • Poor quality milk is used to produce most commercial curd, which can be a concern.

What if You Do Not Have Starter Curd?

  1. Take boiled milk in a vessel and reheat it a little for making the starter curd. Use lukewarm milk. Now, pour little amount of milk in 3 different bowls for making the starter curd.
  2. In one cup of milk drop 2 green chilies. It is very important to have the stalk attached to the chilies for making the starter curd and make sure it is submerged completely in the milk.
  3. In second cup of milk, add 2 red chilies and submerge it completely.
  4. In third cup of milk, add 1 tbsp. of lemon juice and mix it well.
  5. Cover all the three cups of milk and store in a warm place for 12 hours.

Making starter curd is little time-consuming. Its not as good when compared to Dahi and is only used in making the curd.

Here you go! Try this natural and healthy way to make thick curd at home and don’t rely on packaged curd. Do share your experience in the comments below!

For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or ask your GOQii Coach directly by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

#BeTheForce

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5 Super Slimming Smoothie Recipes

super slimming smoothie

Have you gone to unfathomable lengths to shed those extra kilos from your body? At one point, even I did the same. I, in fact, tried everything but still hit a plateau even after following a strict exercise regime and eating healthy. To combat the plateau, I switched to smoothies for breakfast instead of what I ate normally. I made the best use of veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds stored in my fridge. That’s how my super slimming smoothie recipes came into existence!

Needless to say, they delivered results. Apart from that, these super slimming smoothie recipes are palatable, take less time to prepare, look tempting and are really nutritious!

Let’s take a look at them!

1. Sapodila (Chiku), Chia seeds and Almond Milk Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • Sapodillas: 3 – 4
  • Chia Seeds: 1-2 tbsp  
  • Almond milk: ½ cup
  • Almond flakes: 1 tbsp

How to Prepare:

  1. Wash the Sapodillas. Peel, remove the seeds and chop them roughly
  2. Put the chopped sapodillas into the blender and add almond milk.
  3. Blend into a smooth paste and pour it in a glass
  4. Add Chia seeds and stir well
  5. Top it up with Almond flakes before drinking.

2. Celery, Pear and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • Chopped Celery: 1 cup
  • Chopped Pear: 1 cup
  • ACV: 1 teaspoon
  • Himalayan Salt: 1 Pinch

How to Prepare:

  1. Put the chopped celery and pear in the blender, blend it well and pour in a glass.
  2. Add 1 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar and a pinch of Himalayan salt and blend again for a few seconds.
  3. Stir well before drinking.

3. Blueberry, Oats and Pumpkin Seeds Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • Blueberries: ½ cup
  • Oats: ¼ cup
  • Pumpkin Seeds: 2 tbsp
  • Low Fat Milk: 1-2 cups

How to Prepare:

  1. Blend the blueberries, oats, pumpkin seeds and milk together in one go.
  2. Pour the contents in a glass and enjoy.

 4. Banana, Almond and Dark Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • Sliced Banana: 1 Cup
  • Almonds: 8
  • Grated Dark Chocolate (80% cocoa): 4 tbsp
  • Chilled Low Fat Milk: ½ cup

How to Prepare:

  1. Toss the sliced bananas, almonds, grated chocolate and chilled milk into the blender and give it a spin.
  2. Pour the smoothie in a glass and enjoy!

 5. Purple Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • Jamun (Black Plum) Pulp: 1 cup
  • Curd: ½ cup
  • Soaked Chia Seeds: 1 tsp
  • Organic Honey: 1 tbsp

How to Prepare:

  1. Pour the Jamun pulp and curd in the mixer and blend well.
  2. Add the organic honey to the above mixture along with the entire contents of the soaked chia seeds with water and blend well.
  3. Pour the smoothie in a glass and drink it.

These are a few of the super slimming smoothie recipes for weight loss. If you’re looking for something uniquely nutritious, this is it! So hit the kitchen and go super healthy! Do share your experience in the comments below.

For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to cooking sessions on GOQii Play.

To get more advice on recipes, nutrition, weight loss and diet tips, subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

Eat Healthy, Stay Home, Stay Safe and #BeTheForce

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Healthy Eating: Fruit and Chia Salad With Nuts

healthy eatingIs preparing evening snacks a challenge for you? If you haven’t figured out what you’ll be eating today, this Fruit and Chia Salad with Nuts is perfect! This healthy recipe is filling and it will satisfy your sweet tooth as well. It can also be served as a cold dessert.

Here’s what you will need –

Ingredients:

  • Apple/Banana/Ripe Mango – 1 medium size chopped
  • Strawberries – 5-6
  • Kiwi – 1 medium size chopped
  • Chia seeds – 1 tbsp
  • Almond milk/ Coconut milk/ Low-fat milk – ½ cup (100 ml)
  • Honey – 1 tsp
  • Walnuts (4 halves), almonds (5), Pista (5), Cashews (4)
  • Cinnamon powder

Method:

  1. Chop all the nuts roughly
  2. Heat a pan and roast the chopped nuts for 3-4 minutes on low to medium flame to make them brittle and crunchy
  3. Take 100ml low-fat milk/ coconut milk/ almond milk, add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, pinch of cinnamon powder and 1 tsp of honey in it
  4. Allow this mixture to stay in refrigerator overnight or for 8-10 hours to allow the chia seeds to swell up
  5. Take a mason jar or a glass and start layering
  6. Add chopped mangoes to base and add milk + chia seeds mixture on it to cover the mangoes
  7. To this, add the chopped kiwi and again add milk + chia seeds mixture on it
  8. Top this with chopped strawberries and again some milk + chia seeds mixture
  9. Add the roasted nuts on top

Please Note: If you’re allergic to nuts, replace them with seeds.

Highlights of the Fruit and Chia Salad Recipe 

  • Chia seeds are very rich in omega 3 fatty acids and fiber which makes this snack very filling
  • You can add seasonal fruits of your own choice and get all the seasonal nutrients
  • This will give a variation to your normal fruit intake

Did you like this fruit and chia salad with nuts recipe? Have you already tried it out? Share a pic on social media or the GOQii Arena and tag us! For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to cooking sessions on GOQii Play.

To get more advice on recipes, nutrition and diet tips, subscribe to personalized coaching and ask your GOQii Coach directly: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

Eat Healthy, Stay Home, Stay Safe and #BeTheForce

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Losing 22kg at 80 with GOQii! Col Ravi Minocha User Journey

Col. Ravi Minocha

As we age, we are often unable to do the things we could before. Mobility issues as a result of old age often become an excuse for older adults to not get active. But we’re here to tell you that age is just a number if you have the will, determination and proper guidance towards living an active and healthy lifestyle. Don’t believe us? Let our player, Retired Army Col Ravi Minocha, tell you how he lost weight and beat his mobility issues with sheer willpower and the right guidance from GOQii! Recently, he spoke to our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal. You can watch their conversation here: 

Life Before GOQii 

“I was very active as an army officer. I was in the unit of Core of Electronics as a mechanical engineer. I retired from the army in 1994,” he says. “I always had a tendency to put on weight. After retirement, I joined the private sector and worked there for 10 years. In 2004, I stopped working and had developed arthritis issues in the knee due to which my mobility reduced.

Doctors suggested surgery as a solution, other than that, it was to pop some painkillers and go in for physiotherapy. I did not want to take pain killers and by now, my mobility had reduced a great deal. I could barely walk for 10 minutes. I reached a stage where I was shy of standing on a weighing scale as I had reached the weight of 99kg and had a waistline of about 48-49 inches. In June 2017, on my birthday, my daughter Latika gifted me a GOQii Tracker and what intrigued me was the coaching aspect.” 

Making Steady Lifestyle Changes 

Initially, Col Ravi Minocha struggled with losing weight and his son told him that he had to do something about controlling his weight. That’s when his health goal became to reduce weight. His ideal weight, as per his age and height was supposed to be around 76-77kg. 

After getting onboard the GOQii Ecosystem, Col Ravi Minocha dedicatedly followed all the instructions given to him by his GOQii Coach. “My coach has been very accommodating,” he says. “She has only been motivating, never once discouraging. As for my bad habit of eating unhealthy, she directed me well towards healthy eating. We started small. I followed everything that my coach said religiously. I started enjoying the interactions with my coach. My coach had a lot to work on, including my unhealthy eating habits, my weight and also my mobility issues. So we started slowly.” 

Within 3 months of being on GOQii, he started feeling the change and slowly his GOQii Coach revised the step count to 10K daily. His mobility issues persisted slightly even then but he realized it was getting better. The Coach also changed his eating habits by reducing his carb and sweets intake. He began eating millets, millet rotis – 8-10 meals in a week with millets, including salads. Controlled diet and exercises helped him improve his weight and with weight loss, his mobility improved. 

Col Ravi Minocha Sees The Results of a Healthy Lifestyle 

In 3 years, Col Ravi Minocha lost 22kg and his weight had reduced from 99kg to 77kg. His waist size has reduced from 49 inches to 38 inches now. Currently, he is working towards maintaining this weight which is ideal for his age and height. On an average, he completes around 12-13k steps. 

In May, he took around 270km steps, which is equivalent to almost 7 marathons. He was quite chuffed looking at the data. He says that, “The GOQii App is very good and getting feedback is a very good thing.” Col Ravi Minocha has been renewing his subscription year after year and is extremely happy and thankful to his coach. 

His daughter Latika stays in Singapore and is very happy to see her dad doing very well. She had gifted him a GOQii after her husband’s friend Jyotirmoy Saha, who also happens to be Vishal Gondal’s friend, suggested GOQii. She says, “What appealed to my dad was the personal coaching. We are all so proud of our dad and what he has achieved at his age. We all marvel at his will power and determination.  Even now, he calls and says how many steps he has completed. He has become a great influencer for all of us, including my mom.”

What Does His Coach Falguni Bhojak Have To Say? 

For Col Ravi Minocha, the goal we were working on was reducing his weight and tummy fat. But the main concern was his knee discomfort due to OA, because of which he had mobility issues. Due to his Arthritis issues, his mobility was restricted and he was not able to walk at a stretch for more than 10-15 minutes.

Then we started working on knee discomfort as in, started anti-inflammatory food, started knee exercises, walking with short breaks in between. I also looked into his diet and asked him to log his food every day so I could know what he was eating and how we could bring about changes in that. He started having lukewarm lemon water, more fruits and salads as well as green veggies. We introduced Millets in his diet and he started having millet roti and millet dosa.

He was so consistent and disciplined in updating logs from the time he joined! Even when he travelled to visit his daughter in Singapore, he kept updating his logs and kept updating me about his habits. Gradually, his mobility became better and he was completing 7-8 k steps by going to walk 2 times a day. Gradually we increased the time and now he can walk for an hour without breaks and discomfort.

He had some constipation problems in between, so we started including soaked black raisins to his diet and that helped. When his hemoglobin had shot down, we began including iron-rich food to ensure he remained healthy.

Col. Minocha is consistent with his habits and follows whatever is told to him. He is extremely disciplined in following his routine. Consistency and discipline have helped him achieve his health goals. Infact, on 29 June, he updated me that his weight is now down to 76.5kg.

As you can see from Col Ravi Minocha’s journey, it is never too late to make a positive shift to a healthier lifestyle. What’s stopping you? Subscribe for personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr  

For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads. 

#BeTheForce 

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