Goa, India

Best Lifestyle Blog of Goa

Day: July 4, 2017

Get On Your Bike: 5 Reasons To Take Up Cycling

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

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Don’t let that bike rust away in the shed. There are plenty of pros to cycling that can make it the ideal way of getting around. Here are just a few reasons to get on your bike.

It will keep you fit

Cycling has all kinds of health benefits from building muscle to helping joint stiffness to helping circulation and breathing. It’s the perfect aerobic workout and one of the best ways to lose weight. Cycling however is not only healthy for the body, but the mind. Whilst cycling, you totally replenish your body’s supply of oxygen, providing fresh oxygen to the brain which helps with concentration and work productivity. Health.harvard.edu lists some of the major health benefits.

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It’s faster than walking

When it comes to getting around locally, cycling can be twice to three times as fast. If you usually walk to work, cycling could allow you to leave the house later, which could in turn allow you to wake up later.

And it’s more eco-friendly than driving

Meanwhile, for those that drive short distances to work, taking your bike instead could be a much greener way to get to work. Bicycles don’t use up fuel and don’t damage roads as much as cars leading, leading to less repairs. Meanwhile, whilst there are some fossil fuels burnt up during the manufacture of a bicycle, it’s nothing compared to the manufacture of a car. For helping you to feel happier about your carbon footprint, taking the bike to work instead of a car could be worthwhile.

Cycling

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It’s family friendly

Cycling can be a great family bonding experience. Whether you go a bike trip along roads or simply cycle around the park, the kids will love it and you’ll all improve your fitness from it. Even for kids that are two young to cycle, there’s the option of trailers as available at sites such as BikeTrailerHub.com. You can also pursue cycling as a holiday activity – there are plenty of vacation hotspots around the world that specialise in cycling.

It’s also cheap

Riding a bike is also remarkably cheap. Your biggest cost is going to be the purchase of the bike itself, which may be a few hundred if you’re looking for a professional model. However, after this, you won’t have common driving costs to worry about such as insurance or fuel or parking or road tax.

Bike repairs are generally cheap as you can go DIY on most of them. Even if you do visit a professional to get your bike fixed, it’s unlikely to set you back as much as a regular car repair. Few people would ever swap out a car for a bike, however you could lower your driving costs by taking the car less and a bike more. Cycling may even save you on extra costs in the long run. For one, it will keep you healthier longer, which could lead to fewer medical bills in the future.

 

 

The Sugar-Free Saviour Of Dessert!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

In our quest to find the perfect dessert, we always come up with the one thing we know we should avoid, sugar. Sugar turns into fat, which turns into extra digits on the weighing scale. And, yes that tasty cheesecake is sheer heaven on a plate, but all the sugar and carbs will weigh heavy on you in so many ways. The answer? The fat bomb!

Now, the name might not sound like a weight-loss miracle, but they’ve been used as part of the very popular ketogenic diet, where you have no carbs but fill up on fat for weight loss, and the results have been shown to work. If you check out the Bulletproof Diet or the LCHF pages, there are plenty of sources out there that swear by it, not to mention the fact that various types of natural fat are now been shown to very good for you. The great thing about these fat bombs is that they are only a few ingredients and require no baking. Now, there are some great no bake desserts and no bake recipes out there, and these fat bombs are sort of taking the inspiration from them, but have gone low sugar and low carb. So, to get you started, here are a couple of simple and sumptuous fat bombs.

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

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A filling, tasty and healthy alternative to the ones you buy in the store, these are high in good fats, have a big dollop of protein and provide some key minerals.

Serves: 32

Ingredients:

1 cup of melted coconut oil

1 cup of organic peanut butter (no added sugar or palm oil)

1 cup of organic cacao powder

Instructions:

  1. On the stove, melt the coconut oil on a low heat and add the peanut butter and cacao.
  2. Using a whisk, whisk until the texture is smooth.
  3. Spoon ½ a tablespoon of the mixture into 32 small paper muffin cups.
  4. Store in the refrigerator or place in the freezer until the mixture has hardened.

And that’s it! You can choose to replace the peanut butter with almond butter or a nut butter of your choosing.

Chocolate Fat Bombs (With Sea Salt)

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Chocolate and sea salt has converted many people to its wonderful taste, but here’s a low sugar version which is just as good as the sweet treats in the store.

Ingredients:

½ cup of heavy whipping cream

½ cup of coconut oil

½ cup of sunflower butter

1/3 cup of cream cheese

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 tablespoons of grass fed butter

2 tablespoons of sea salt

Instructions:

  1. Whip the cream until they form soft peaks, add the vanilla and fold in.
  2. Place the sunflower butter, butter, cinnamon, cream cheese, coconut oil and the cocoa powder into a food processor and blend until smooth.
  3. Fold the mixture into the whipped cream until it is all combined.
  4. Pipe the mixture into silicone molds, sprinkle with the salt and store in the freezer for 6 to 8 hours.

 

 

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