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Manage Stress By Managing Your Cortisol Levels!

Manage Stress By Managing Cortisol LevelsHow often do we hear people say, “I am so stressed”? Given the current pandemic scenario, the lockdown and the threat of new variants, we’re sure you might have heard a lot of people say this. While the stress is reasonable, do you know what causes it? Is it the pressure of working from home thwarting your work-life balance, is it the news or could it be the excessive release of stress hormones? If you weren’t aware, just as there are hormones that make you feel good, there’s a stress hormone called Cortisol but it’s not all bad.

The cortisol stress hormone management system is released by the adrenal cortex glands in order to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and the immune system. While it does regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and the immune system, if it is released at a wrong time, it can be harmful. What triggers the rise of this crucial hormone is mental and physical stress, insulin spikes, too many stimulants, overindulgence of processed food and toxicity build up.

Sources Of Chronic Stress Include: 

  • Lack of sleep and insomnia
  • Negative thoughts and emotions
  • Sugar cravings and low serotonin levels
  • Caffeine and stimulant abuse (more than 2 coffees per day)
  • Acidity and Toxicity
  • Lethargy and lack of energy

Burning stubborn belly fat has to be one of the most popular stresses that people have and most have a problem dealing with this issue. What we fail to identify is that losing body fat, especially on the lower abdomen, is a hormonal issue.

It’s NOT overeating!

It’s NOT sugar or carbohydrates!

It’s NOT lack of exercise!

The one culprit that can quash your fat burning efforts and leave you with stubborn belly fat is your cortisol and adrenaline hormones. Stress leads to adrenals burning out, and excess cortisol and adrenalin lead to a number of health problems. If prolonged, it can lead to:

  • Excess abdomen fat
  • A serious drop in testosterone, and rise in estrogen
  • Hypertension and anxiety
  • Bone, mineral and muscle loss (cortisol is a catabolic hormone and is often elevated)
  • High blood sugar and insulin resistance

How Can You Bring Cortisol Levels Under Control? 

stress managementGiven how high stress levels have been lately due to the pandemic, it is important to manage stress by managing spiking cortisol levels. Dealing with Cortisol can be tricky. If dealt with proper techniques and supplements, one can get the Cortisol levels under control. Here are a few tips to help you out:

  • Reduce physical and mental stress by becoming more calm and relaxed. Meditation and pranayama are your allies.
  • Exclude sugar and processed foods from your regular diet and replace them with whole organic foods that will help improve digestion and in turn, reward you with a healthier GUT!
  • Lower toxicity and acidity which adds stress to the body internally by making the simple shifts in the food choices, thoughts and emotions.
  • To take control of Cortisol levels, one needs to learn how to unwind and relax every single day for at least 20 – 30 minutes and learn to take deep breaths and clear the mind. You can also indulge in a hobby you like!
  • Meditation and yoga are some excellent ways to relax and bring down cortisol levels effectively.
  • Exercise is a true savior and has been shown to reduce cortisol effectively. But a word of caution – don’t overdo it and do it correctly or else it could have the opposite effect.
  • Cortisol is at its lowest during sleep. So, make sure you get adequate and good quality sleep. This Sleep Series could help you understand your sleep better.

Additionally, it’s best to steer clear of news and social media updates that stress you out. You can check it once a day to just get an update but there’s no point in indulging in every news article that comes your way, especially if it paints a grim picture. So zone out, take care of your health, keep calm and be stress-free!

We hope this article helps you during these precarious times. For more on stress management, check out Healthy Reads. To learn how to manage stress effectively, ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Stay home, keep calm and #BeTheForce! 

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Should You Consider the Keto Diet?

keto diet

Lately, a lot of my patients have been asking me about the Keto Diet – if it is safe or if I would recommend it. Despite the recent hype, a Keto Diet isn’t something new. In medicine, we have been using it for around a 100 years to treat drug resistant epilepsy, especially in children.

The Keto Diet is a very low carbohydrate, high fat, adequate protein diet which had originally developed in the 1920s for managing intractable epilepsy. Later, it had been indicated in many other conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s disease. In recent days, Keto Diet has become increasingly popular among people trying to lose weight.

The diet primarily aims at depriving the body of glucose and putting it in a metabolic state (ketosis), in which fats are burned to produce ketone bodies. These ketones are utilized as fuel for energy production instead of glucose. In order to create this state, the dietary carbohydrates are restricted to as low as 20-25g per day and the fat to carbohydrate ratio is typically kept at 4:1 or 3:1 ratio by weight. Because it lacks carbohydrates, it is rich in protein and fats. It typically includes plenty of meats, eggs, processed meats, sausages, cheese, fish, nuts, butter, oils, seeds and fibrous vegetables.

What is Ketosis?

Glucose is the preferred fuel, especially for the brain. Glucose is also required for the complete oxidation of the fats in TCA Cycle. In conditions of starvation or drastic carbohydrates restriction (below 20g/day), i.e. when glucose is not available, fats are broken down in an alternate pathway to produce ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are utilized by the brain and other tissues for energy production instead of glucose. This condition is known as Ketosis.

What Are The Effects of a Keto Diet on Weight Loss?

The effect of Keto Diet on weight loss has been attributed to several possible factors:

  • The appetite suppressing the action of ketone bodies by modification of hormones.
  • Reduction in the accumulation of fat (lipogenesis) and breakdown of fat (lipolysis).
  • Increased metabolic cost of gluconeogenesis (breakdown of fat or protein for glucose) and thermic effect of protein.
  • High satiating effect of fats which provides the feeling of fullness for longer hours. 

Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet Beyond Weight Loss

Due to obesity, excess body fat is closely associated with insulin resistance. The metabolic disturbances associated with insulin resistance due to inefficient utilization of glucose are improved with low carbohydrate high-fat diets. These changes beneficially affect gene expression, improved resistant states, attenuate oxidative stress and inflammatory conditions.

Significant reductions in serum triglycerides, marked increase in HDL cholesterol and decrease in inflammatory markers have been observed with this diet.

Potential Risk of Following This Diet

Despite the metabolic benefits of Keto Diets, the severe carbohydrate restriction and huge fat content of the diet raises question regarding safety. The severe restriction in diet calls for inadequacies of several nutrients.

  • Selenium deficiency is noted which leads to abnormal cardiac rhythm and impaired myocardial functions.
  • Arterial stiffness, increase in LDL cholesterol occurs in about half the individuals on Keto Diet.
  • Although it might show improvements in certain cardiovascular parameters like increased HDL and lowered TGLs, this mostly in the short term. In the long term, it has been shown to cause Hepatic Steatosis (accumulation of fat in the liver), Dyslipidaemia and glucose intolerance in mice.
  • It affects calcium balance and bone health. Prolonged exposure to the acidic environment caused by the ketones in blood can lead to progressive loss of bone minerals.
  • In fact, Nephrolithiasis, a very commonly noted complication of the Keto Diet, can be attributed to increased urinary calcium which leads to stone formation.
  • High amount of fat in the diet gives rise to gastrointestinal tolerance issues which include nausea, diarrhoea, constipation and GERD(Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease).
  • Other side effects include dehydration, Hypoglycaemia, Hyperuricemia, Pancreatitis, Ketoacidosis, low serum sodium and magnesium have been reported.

Practical Considerations To Be Taken

It is important to consider the total calorie intake, especially in context of weight loss. Reduction in total calorie intake is always important and not just replacing carbohydrate calories with fats.

With the above considerations, a modified Keto Diet can serve as an effective tool for weight loss with certain added metabolic advantage and can be advised to obese individuals having no other metabolic disorder for a limited period of time. This should, however, be followed up with a healthy and more balanced eating plan on the long term.

Please note that we do not advocate, advise or recommend fad diets to our players. Please reach out or consult your doctor, dietician or nutritionist before making changes to your diet.

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

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How Kaushik Dey Went From Simply Working Out To Living A Healthy Lifestyle

Kaushik DeyBeing healthy encompasses many factors. While it involves working out, it isn’t just about working out or being active. You have to also look at other parameters such as nutrition, sleep, managing stress, et al. In fact, even introducing new habits and tweaking existing ones can do wonders for your health. All of this might seem difficult to manage by yourself, but when you get the right guidance from a certified expert, it can really change your life – as experienced first hand by our Player, Kaushik Dey. 

Lifestyle Before Joining GOQii 

Kaushik Dey is a 40 year old engineer who works for a Public Sector Unit based in Delhi. Since 2011, he has been involved with the Yog Organization and practices Yoga on a daily basis. 

“Being active was part of my life, prior to GOQii. But, what GOQii did was help me prioritize my activities and diet practices,” says Kaushik Dey. 

In 2017, he was given a basic GOQii Tracker as a gift with which he also got a free 3 month coaching subscription. While going through the instruction manual, he got to know about the GOQii Ecosystem and personal coaching. 

Making Small Changes and Introducing New Habits 

Currently, his coach is Dr. Naina Sudarshan. She regularly takes updates and shares articles and exercises, guides him with his exercise routine and helps him if there are any issues.

“Personal coaching helped me understand what I was not doing right. It helped me understand diet and exercise the right way. Personal coaching has been the game changer for me,” says Kaushik Dey. 

He also says that interacting with his GOQii Coach on a daily basis has taught him how to manage his health the right way by adding new habits at regular intervals. Apart from Personal Coaching that helps Kaushik keep a watch on his diet, exercise, stress levels and sleep, he says that he has also benefited a great deal from GOQii Play – the interactive video coaching feature within the GOQii App and by gathering a lot of information from GOQii Blogs. 

“I used to run regularly and then I developed Plantar fasciitis. Coach Sheetal Tiwari guided me to improve my health through Yoga classes on GOQii Play. Coach specifically mentioned some exercises that helped me a lot, otherwise I was seeking medical help such as pain injections”.

Kaushik alone doesn’t derive the benefits of GOQii, but his 10 year old daughter also exercises with him regularly. Kaushik has been a regular on GOQii PRO for the last 6 months and has taken an extended 1 year subscription. He is joined by his daughter for the GOQii Pro classes and he says he exercises with Coach Urvashi and Parwage Alam to name a few. Kaushik proudly says that his daughter is probably the only kid who is a regular on GOQii Pro.Kaushik-2

This April, he and his entire family were affected by COVID-19. While the first 5 days were tough, from the 6th day onwards he started practicing yoga and exercise in quarantine. His GOQii Coach helped him tackle the situation well. Having a healthy lifestyle helped him and his family a lot. Everyone is fit and fine now. Kaushik says that it is due to GOQii that they were able to manage themselves well and fight COVID-19 successfully. It is during this time that he took a couple of doctor consults from the GOQii App.

“GOQii is a part of my life,” says Kaushik. He further adds that GOQii’s personalized coaching helped him manage his exercise routine despite his stressful public sector job. 

Kaushik believes that GOQii is a good platform and has been actively advocating it to his friends, colleagues and society members. “Consistency is key. GOQii has inspired me to be more active and manage my time well. I will continue to be on the GOQii Platform as it is doing noble work. If you are a fitness freak and GOQii is with you, you can make a difference in your fitness routine and see the changes just like I did.” 

What Does Dr. Naina Sudarshan Have To Say About Kaushik Dey? 

Kaushik has been an active GOQii player for more than 3 years now and I have been his coach for about 2.5 years. His goals were to lose weight, reduce fat percentage and cholesterol levels while maintaining his health. 

Though Kaushik is a self-motivated and active person, his diet and shift work were major hurdles for his goals. But I can’t remember a day Kaushik has not updated me about his diet and activities including the days he had to go through COVID-19 this year. His regular updates helped me go into small details in his diet and correct them every day. 

I was also able to follow up with his daily activities like yoga, GOQii PRO classes, tracking his sleep and stress levels. During his time with GOQii, he was able to reduce about 4-5kgs of weight, lower his body fat percentage as well as cholesterol levels. I am sure over these years he has learnt a lot through GOQii on how to maintain his health. 

Currently, he is guiding his family, including his two children, by motivating them to be active. He proves that a balanced diet, mindful eating habits, staying physically active and living a healthy lifestyle is not just limited to an individual with a specific health goal, but it’s equally essential for everyone in the family.

Does Kaushik’s journey inspire you? Want to make a lifestyle change? Subscribe for personalized coaching now and crush your health goals with the help of a GOQii Coach: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

To see how others have benefitted from using GOQii, read more user stories on Healthy Reads. 

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Small Changes For Big Rewards – Officer Susant Dash User Journey

Susant DashIt’s no surprise that the heavy burden of managing this COVID-19 crisis has fallen heavily on our frontline heroes. The members of our police force have faced the worst of it. During this time, it is very important to keep oneself healthy in order to protect others. While this is expected, it is no easy task. Managing health, along with duty, was becoming increasingly difficult for Police Officer Susant Dash. 

As an officer of the police force, his days were always hectic with no timely meals or sleep. He used to eat his lunch at 4pm and dinner around 12:30 or 1am after returning home. He had no control over what he would eat in between his meals – as it mostly consisted of a samosa or some street food from a vendor. The high levels of stress during these precarious times only contributed to his weight gain. He didn’t even have time to think about health or fitness till he stumbled upon an advertisement of our brand ambassador Akshay Kumar on a newspaper which changed his life! 

Making a Lifestyle Change 

The advertisement that Susant Dash saw was that of the GOQii Smart Vital. Being out on the field all day during a pandemic, he figured he could use a device which helped him track vitals such as body temperature, blood oxygen, heart rate and blood pressure. He purchased the GOQii Smart Vital which came with a 3 month subscription to personal coaching. Once he subscribed, he was introduced to his Coach, Yogita Sharma and his journey to a healthier lifestyle began. 

Habits Introduced By His Coach 

The changes that Coach Yogita Sharma introduced were quite basic. This included maintaining a 3 hour gap between his dinner and sleep time, timely meals and no oily food. She gave him a fitness regime to follow for a week which included 4 days of cardio, 2 days of strength training and 1 day of rest. 

Now, his day starts at 6 in the morning with a glass of lemon water or methi seeds soaked overnight with water. He starts his workout at 7 and goes on for an hour. He tries his best to eat his breakfast, lunch and dinner on time. He has completely stopped snacking from vendors – fried foods being a major weakness. Along with this, he does 10 minutes of guided meditation every day before sleeping. 

What Changes Did Officer Susant Dash Notice? 

Thanks to making these minimal changes to his lifestyle, his weight has reduced from 103kg in September 2020 to 87kg now. He feels more energetic and active despite being out all day. He understood from his coach that exercise alone does not lead to fat loss. It has to be coupled with calorie restriction, proper diet and sleep – something that he was unaware about before being coached by Yogita Sharma, who guided him about what to eat, what to avoid, and most importantly, how to structure his meals. 

With visible changes in his physique and appearance, he says he has grown more confident and feels good when he is appreciated by his superiors and his juniors at the station. He feels pleased that he has become a role model for his colleagues and has inspired many among them to take fitness seriously. He says, “I never imagined I could lose 16 kgs in 5 months. Thanks to GOQii this came true!” 

Apart from engaging with his GOQii Coach, Officer Susant Dash also follows GOQii Play Coaches Mukesh, Heena, Dr. Paramjeet and Urvashi and finds their videos interesting. He also purchases products such as honey, teas, etc. from the GOQii Health Store. 

What Does Coach Yogita Sharma Have To Say About Officer Susant Dash? 

Officer Susant Dash joined GOQii on 13th September, 2020. When he joined our team, his weight was 99kg and he struggled with borderline high sugar levels, uric acid and high blood pressure, but was not taking any medication for the same. After our first discussion, we decided that we will try lifestyle modifications to correct these parameters before starting medication. 

Over a period of 4 months, he has lost 10kg of weight and as per his latest reports, his blood sugar, blood pressure and uric acid levels are all well within normal range. Overall, his energy levels have improved and he feels fresh throughout the day. 

Does the story of Officer Susant Dash inspire you to make a lifestyle change? Then download the GOQii App and subscribe now! To read more inspirational stories, check out Healthy Reads. 

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