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Get Your Heart Racing: Exercises To Improve Health And Lifestyle

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

We are all very much aware that exercising is good for us, but do we do as much exercise as we should be? The truth is, exercise should be part of our daily lives, where on average you do something that increases your heart rate or stretches your muscles or mind at least for 30 minutes each day. This, however, may sound like a tall task to ask of you. After all, we can all be living hectic lives as it is. Work commitments, social lives, they all take up our precious waking hours, so where can the exercise fit in? However, some exercises are very enjoyable, and they can fit seamlessly into your day by making a few simple changes to your routine. I thought I would share with you some of the most common exercises that can have a huge impact on your health and lifestyle.

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Going for a run

One of most common forms of exercise is simply going for a run. A lot of people tend to fit this in after work, as it’s a great way to calm your mind and transition from work mode into an evening of relaxation or family time. Running, of course, is a cardio workout, so it definitely enables you to increase your heart rate. You don’t need much other than some active wear and a decent pair of jogging trainers, and you can simply just head out of your front door and run. It is a great form of therapy psychologically, and many people would agree that it is the easiest ways to exercise frequently, and it can be rather enjoyable once you get into it. Many people even then sign up to do distance runs such as 10ks and even marathons.

Biking your commute to work

We can all agree that daily exercise can be a huge task to fit in, so why not turn something you would normally do into exercise? Instead of relying on your car or public transport, why not bike your way into work instead? Many employers actually encourage this and have facilities in which to park your bike for the day, and for you to change into your work attire. Of course, you may need to invest in a decent bike and some cycle insurance to ensure that you are covered. But it’s a great way to incorporate your daily exercise.

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Practicing yoga in an evening or morning

While yoga may not be seen as a cardio workout, when combined with regular exercise it’s a great way to vary the type of exercise you do. Yoga concentrates on stretches and muscles while encouraging you to focus on your mind and breathing techniques. This is a great way to destress from an especially busy and stressful day, while still getting some important exercise. Some people also combine yoga with meditation practice as a way to prioritise their thoughts or simply as a relaxation technique. There are plenty of tutorials online to help you master some of the most common yoga poses.

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Attending a gym for an aerobic class

Sometimes you need to be accountable for the exercise that you take, so joining a gem may be your best option. Although it can be pricey, they offer various classes and facilities, making it much easier to attend and do a workout. An aerobic class is a great way to incorporate a block amount of time of cardio workout. Plus being with other people can be an excellent motivator.

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Swimming

 

Swimming is seen as a full body workout, and a great way to not only increase your heart rate but work on muscles all over your body from one form of exercise. Swimming doesn’t require any fancy equipment, just a costume and yourself. You don’t have to be a member of a gym, as there are plenty of local pools you can enjoy the facilities of. It;s also a refreshing exercise and can actually be relaxing if you love being in the water.

Seeking out the expertise of a personal trainer

Finally, if you have some money to invest into your exercise, then you may want to gain the expertise and knowledge of a personal trainer. These people tend to tailor exercises to your needs, abilities and your end goals. They will know what exercises and equipment you should be using, and the workout can be tailored to the amount of time you have. It can also help to have someone there to spur you on, especially if you begin to flag towards the end. They can be a worthy investment, but may not be a long-term option.

I hope this has inspired you to incorporate more exercise into your daily routine.

 

Eating Enough Fruit And Veg Made Easy

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

We all know how important it is to get enough fruit and vegetables in our diet, yet the large majority of us fail to do this. It may not always feel like it, but eating the recommended amount of fruit and veg doesn’t need to be a challenge. Here, we’ll list some of the easiest things you can do to make sure you’re getting enough fruit and vegetables in.

Image: Wikimedia

Keep Them in the Open

Simply making the fruit and veg in your house more visible can be a great first step towards encouraging everyone in your household, you included, to get their fill. Don’t hide them away at the back of your cupboards. Instead, get a fruit bowl for the kitchen, keep it well-stocked, and have snackable things like carrot sticks available at the front of the fridge. Even taking the time to slice up apples, kiwis and so on can give you a little extra motivation to take a bite in passing.

Drink Them (Up to a Point)

Juice and smoothies are excellent ways to get your fill of fruit and veg, and make it feel easier. You can even start following a whole juice diet if you’re looking to lose weight. The next time you’re shopping for fruit, look for labels that say “100% fruit juice”, as a glass of these are guaranteed to give you a serving. Just be wary of the portion size, and make sure you know how much a serving is. It’s completely possible to wind up consuming more calories through juice and smoothies, even though they’re not exactly filling!

Think Frozen

Buying bulk amounts of peas and vegetables, and keeping them in your freezer, is an excellent way to make sure there’s always vegetables in the house. Frozen veg is remarkably easy to prepare, and can be kept for a long time, making them much more economical compared to buying fresh veg here and there throughout the week. Frozen raspberries and blueberries are also great to scatter over a bland cereal in the morning. Despite what you may have heard, it’s a complete myth that frozen fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones, although the flavour can be a little dampened depending on where you source them from.

Get Started Early

Like a lot of things, the sooner you get started with eating your recommended amount of fruit and veg, the easier you’ll find it to polish it off. Start getting into the habit of making fruits or vegetables part of your breakfast. Adding sliced bananas or berries to your cereal is a classic, but you can also add vegetables to an omelette, berries to your yoghurt, or simply have a piece of fruit on the side. Soon enough, this will start to feel like part of the routine, rather than a chore you really ought to do. From there, you’ll have that much less to worry about through the rest of the day.

Start applying these tips, and you’ll find it so much easier to get your fill of fruit and veg.

Wacky Ways to Lose Belly Fat!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

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If there is one thing we all want in life it’s to lose a little weight. Sometimes, we just enjoy food too much and let go of our inhibitions. Although it’s delicious, it’s also unhealthy, especially if you’re carrying a little more timber than necessary.

Of course, you’re reading this thinking ‘this isn’t my first rodeo, pal,’ and you’re right. Lots of people try to lose weight on a daily basis, so what makes this post any different? Well, aside from the fact that these tips work, they are also weird and wonderful. When you spend a lifetime following the rules, sometimes it’s good to cut loose.

With that in mind, here are four wacky ways to lose weight that you won’t find on a conventional dieting blog.

The Sniff Test

 According to a study by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, sniffing food works. In fact, their research shows that people lost nearly two stones. The method behind the madness is that the aroma of the food tricks the brain into thinking you’re eating. As a result, the brain tells the stomach you’re full, and the hunger pains cease. Sure, you’ll feel like an idiot the first time, but persist and you’ll look like a skinny idiot!

Testosterone Replacement

As you know, testosterone is a hormone found in the human body. What you might not know is that it is prominent in both males and females, and it’s responsible for burning fat. In fact, experts believe it’s the main hormone in charge and advocate supplements like Elite Testosterone Replacement. The stats do add up too. For starters, low testosterone can affect energy levels, which in turn make you less likely to exercise. Plus, low hormone levels also make you more tired. Fatigue is a killer when it comes to health because it lowers the body’s overall efficiency.

Bigger Breakfast

Because we don’t feel like eating in the morning, breakfast is usually quick and easy. Although it’s a good way to start the day, it isn’t the best way to lose weight. Simply put, eating more calories in the morning gives you more time to burn them off. Plus, it should provide you with more energy to workout. Shifting the balance so that your lunch and dinner have fewer calories can help you lose a ton. Okay, it won’t be a ton, but it’ll be a lot! In fact, try and avoid eating at night altogether because the body doesn’t have the time to digest the intake.

Packaged Snacks

The fact is that you will still snack even if you are on a health kick. It’s just an occupational hazard of being a human being. The good news is that you can curb it by sticking to wrapped products. Studies show that people that have to unwrap junk food cut their intake by up to thirty percent. It seems that the hassle of fiddling with packaging makes snacking less desirable. What a result!

See, you don’t have to stick to the tried and tested methods to reach your goals.

New Way to a Sweet Life with Sviten! A product review powered by FBCI

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

In todays time, when health is becoming a big concern, replacement of sugar is need of the hour. Unknowingly just in our regular tea and coffee drinking habits we end up consuming a lot of sugar, and then we have to compromise on enjoying sweets and desserts, but thankfully with products like Sviten, which are natural sweeteners but without having any side effects, any calories and gluten are a blessing.

Somehow I have been off sugar for quite sometime as far as milk and coffee is concerned, but I never really tried making a cake or dessert without sugar. But recently I thought of giving it a try and did my experiment with a simple recipe of making a custard. Having custard after dinner is almost customary in my house, and hence I chose to use Sviten instead of sugar in my custard this time. Also because I was making jelly, which is too sweet, I thought of balancing the custard by making it free of sugar. Trust me it urned out to be as sweet, natural tasting with Sviten as it does with regular sugar.

Must say that I am very impressed with this product and also relived that I can now enjoy desserts guilt free. Now add Sviten not only in regular tea and coffee but also its use in desserts, or making cakes or sweets is as simple, easy and tasty as using the normal sugar. Sviten is a natural sweetener made of Stevia, the best tasting part of the stevia leaf. Its been in use since 200 years and 300 times more sweeter than sugar, but only without calories and completely natural.

So what are you waiting for, make your life sweet but guilt free with Sviten, order from Amazon today!

Unique Ways To Drop Those Extra Pounds

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Pic Via Flickr

If you’re struggling to lose weight, perhaps while you’re trying to get beach body ready, you’re probably just not making the workout interesting enough. It’s hard to encourage yourself to get fit when it simply involves doing sit ups and press ups. Or, perhaps heading to the gym to run for an hour on a treadmill, going nowhere. It takes a special kind of person to get invested in these types of monotonous activities. Although, the payoff might ultimately make it worth it.

One possibility you could try is simply wild running. Rather than heading to the gym, you can drive to a forest or country track and go for a run there. You’ll be amazed by the effect the fresh air has on your performance, and the scenery will ensure it is a more fulfilling experience. Here are a few other ways to get fit that are a tad more unique than the typical gym workout session.

Wild Swimming

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Since we mentioned wild running, we might as well talk about wild swimming. Wild swimming is all about going for a dip in outdoor areas like rivers, streams, or even lakes. If you’re going to do this, you need to be aware of the dangers. First, you must make sure that the water is warm enough or that you wear a wetsuit. If the outdoor temperature is anything less than around nineteen degrees, it’s probably not.

Also, you have to watch out for fast underwater currents. These can drag you down, particularly if you are not a strong swimmer and make this activity very dangerous indeed.

That said, wild swimming can still be great fun and a fantastic workout. You can find tips online about where to swim in your local area.

Coaching A Team

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Perhaps you might want to volunteer coaching a sports team. Particularly, if your kid is a member. You might think that coaching is mainly an inactive sport but that’s not true. You’ll have to show them how to hit the ball, tackle, or complete plays. All this can be very active. Of course, you will need to take on other responsibilities such as arranging rewards if the team wins. Luckily, you can find football, rugby, basketball, and cricket trophies by Premier Trophies online. And if in doubt, you can always just take the players for ice cream after the match. Though, this does somewhat defeat the original intention behind the activity.

Shocking, Isn’t It

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Finally, if you are just can’t muster the energy to work out, you might want to try shock muscle therapy. Doing this, you send low electric pulses through your muscles, and this stimulates them in the same way as exercise. After a few months or even just weeks, you might find you’ve dropped the pounds while your body can even look more toned. It’s definitely a unique idea, and it does depend on the tech you use as to whether or not you see results.

You see, there’s lots of unique ways to workout before you rush off to the gym.

Picture Via Flickr

Turn from a Couch Potato into a Spring Chicken

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

You only have to look on your social media pages or pop your head into a gym to find people who are hugely enthusiastic about keeping fit. Just about everyone has a friend who talks about it all the time. Not everyone is so upbeat about exercise, though, and many haven’t done any real exercise for a long time. Or maybe even ever. Pretty much everyone has to move every day, from walking to the store to climbing the stairs. But many people don’t really make an effort to do much more than that. If you’re more of a couch potato, you might be thinking that it’s time to start getting fitter.

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Find Something You Enjoy

Before you get into your new fitness kick, it’s worth deciding how you want to get fit. While it’s tough to push yourself physically, that doesn’t mean it has to feel like complete torture or be really boring. If you’ve never enjoyed running, don’t decide to force yourself out on a run three times a week. You don’t have to enjoy every moment, but your workout should leave you feeling better mentally, even if you ache all over physically. There are so many ways to get active, from team sports to solo pursuits. Find something that works for you.

Choose Your Goals

Staying motivated when you’re trying to get fit is tough. Setting some goals to aim for helps to make it easier to motivate yourself and have a direction to head in. Everyone has different goals when they want to get fit, and they could be both big and small. It’s best to have concrete goals to aim for, instead of a vague “get fit.” For example, maybe you want to be able to run a marathon in a year’s time. Perhaps you want to lose a certain amount of weight, or you just want to climb the stairs at work without huffing and puffing.

Marybettiniblank on Pixabay

Create a Plan

Once you’ve decided on your goals, you should work out a plan to reach them. You should look for advice on the best ways to achieve what you want to do. Take a look at a building muscle for dummies guide if you’re hoping to get strong and buff. Read about how to alter your diet if you want to lose weight. Think about your plan in both the short-term and long-term. Remember that your plan doesn’t have to be set in stone. You can make changes to it.

Start Slowly

If you haven’t exercised in a while, don’t rush into it. You should start off slowly and try to only make one change at a time. If you attempt to turn your whole lifestyle upside down from one day to the next, you’ll have very little chance of sticking to your new routine. Start with just one thing, like going to a new fitness class, and build up to doing more.

Getting fit if you’re not much for exercise can feel like a huge challenge. Create a solid plan, and you’ll have a better chance of success.

Health at what cost– a session for fitness freaks!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

“Health at What Cost” an interesting talk session was held at Oxford Bookstore Connaught Place recently. The session was organised to discuss the key reasons beneath the healthcare and fitness issues in India. The concept was to highlight the solutions through day-to-day practices in the masses towards fitness. The event was moderated by Shrey Khanna which had a talk session, headed by esteemed group of panelists like  Sonu Wassan– a holistic yoga expert, Sapna Khanna-a well-known fitness coach and Nidhi Mohan Kamal– Indian nutrition and health expert.  The esteemed panelists talked about how to maintain routine fitness with absolute comfort in this busy and competitive life. The discussion went ahead resolving the common myths of workouts that changed the way one think about fitness & healthy lifestyle. The panelists also discussed about the benefits of yoga, losing weight with normal Indian diet and the nutrients and supplements required for having a healthy and fit body. The panelists also interacted with the audience suggesting some interesting workout routines like indoor rock climbing, hula hoops, yoga sessions etc. to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The event was hosted by Ms. Neena Gulati

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ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Sapna Khanna

Sapna Khanna a certified fitness enthusiast believes that the fitness is customized to individual needs, skills lifestyle and aptitude. She spoke about the common mistakes people do while exercising, the correct way of exercising which people are following. Doing crunches and running and spending an hour for workout is not just needed for losing shed and to be fit. You can lose weight and still gain muscle; likewise, you can also gain weight while still losing fat. The quality of your workouts is more important than the quantity.

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Nidhi Mohan Kami

Nidhi Mohan Kamal helped in guidance with losing weight with normal Indian Diet, the truth about protein powders and weight training for women makes manly or helps in losing weight or not. Protein has become a staple supplement for most bodybuilders and other athletes but has more recently caught on with the anti-aging groups also for its effects on immunity.

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SonuWassan

SonuWassan is a Delhi based yoga instructor and started her experience with yoga seven years ago, with Sivananda Yoga. She followed this with a specialised teacher training course from the Aurobindo Ashram on yoga for children and adults. Sonu has trained under the direct guidance of Swami Vidyanand, and is a certified Master and Grand Master of transformational Yoga. Sonu has taught yoga in the prestigious Aurobindo Ashram, and has since conducted her own independent yoga classes. She emphasizes on traditional gentle yoga working upon the body, mind, breath and awareness, leading to a transformed you with good health, balanced attitude and vitality to deal with urban and modern day lifestyle and stress. Sonu offers personalized classes, to suit all age groups and all levels of experience in yoga.

Guests who attended the event were: Salma Sultan, Nishant Choubey, Aashmeen Munjaal, Niladri Paul, Deepa Sondhi, Shuchi Khanna, Minu Talwar & many more.

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5 Best Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra
 

October is celebrated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month worldwide, which is also known as Pink October to increase the wakefulness on this dreadful disease. While majority of women are aware of breast cancer, many forget to take the steps and chalk out a plan to detect the disease in its early stages. There is also less awareness about the proper diet which actually helps to prevent the risk of Breast Cancer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that by 2020 the number of breast cancer cases will jump to an alarming figure and one in every eight women would run the risk of developing the disease in her lifetime. Nearly 85% of women diagnosed with breast cancer DO NOT have a family history when caught early. The best part is that breast cancer has a 98% survival rate.

A healthy diet and lifestyle modification can reduce the chances of breast cancer by nearly 40%. Some of the factors like family history can’t be changed but there are lifestyles changes that you can make to lower down the risk of the breast cancer.

Let’s have a look at them :

1. Keep your weight in check: Maintaining a healthy weight is an important factor to reduce the risks of various types of cancers which includes the risk of breast cancer especially after menopause

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2. Breastfeeding is a must: Women who breastfeed consistently for 6 months are at less risk. This further helps keeping their child healthy and their own bodies healthy too

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3. Keep it moving! : Doing exercise and physical activity seem to protect against the breast cancer in several ways. It also helps in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeps the weight in check.

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4. Say No to smoking and limiting alcohol intake: Smoking has already been proven as a major factor for various types of cancers which also includes breast cancer. It is also advisable to keep your alcohol intake in control.

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5. Diet, the most important part: There is growing evidence that eating the right food plays an important part in helping to prevent breast cancer risks. Some foods, such as oily fish (forage fish, sardines, pelagic, etc.) can prevent the growth of cancerous tumors; while others, such as green leafy vegetables helps to fight cancer-causing hormones. Some of the key foods that can help protect you against breast cancer are:

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Tomatoes: They are rich in lycopene which have been proven to lower the risk of getting cancer

Green Tea: It is packed with powerful antioxidants that may lower blood pressure

Grain cereals: They contain folate, Vitamin B, which helps prevent breast cancer

Beans & Pulse: They offer an excellent source of vegetable protein into your diet and the intake of beans and pulses such as lentils and chickpeas are associated with reduced breast cancer risk

Garlic: It contains rich source of cancer-fighting compounds that can slow tumor growth and prevent breast cancer risk

Dark Green Leafy vegetables: Studies have shown that chemicals present in them may help prevent cells from DNA damage and induce cell death which could reduce the risk of cancer

Ms. Kanchan Naikawadi, preventive healthcare expert, Indus Health Plus says, “Breast cancer is one of the most dreaded ailments in India and is rapidly increasing amongst women of younger age. Irregular lifestyle changes and improper food intake is adding to its numbers year on year. Breast Cancer is completely curable if detected at an early stage. We are consistently trying to spread the awareness and therefore trying to make it imperative for one and all to invest in healthy living and a preventive health check-up before it’s too late.”

Article contributed by Ms. Kanchan Naikawadi, Preventive Healthcare Specialist, Indus Health Plus

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