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Summer Pool - Fitness

Summer Pool - Fitness   Summer is the best time to  work out and lose weight and Swimming is one great way to that. Splash ,swim and work out with no fancy gadgets .All you need is a swim suit and if your are sacred of water –it doesn’t matter , just stick to the shallow side. But you never know you could also end up learning how to swim and for those who already know, it’s time to brush up the other styles of swimming. When it comes to working out in the pool first get in and get accustomed to the water. After walking around you could start by holding on to the side bar/rod of the pool and work on kicking your legs - do flutter kicks and frog kicks. You can also use the edge of the pool to keep your balance while doing leg lifts to work the muscles on your tummy, legs and bottom. Do 10 sets each of lifting your leg in front of you, to the side, and behind you. Run in the water to increase your heart rate. If you think you are going to lose balance and fall just hold on to the rod. And if you do just hold your breath and you will get back up. While standing you could also do vigorous jumping and twisting while holding the rod for improving your muscle strength. Face up and hold the rod and cycle in the water .You could increase the push and test yourself as to how fast you can do this.The added advantage is that you wont feel the pressure on your knees and it is good for people who are slightly on the heavier side. Enjoy Summer and splash in the pool along with your friends or kids and also get into shape!

5 benefits of lemon, Honey and Warm Water

5 benefits of lemon, Honey and Warm Water   Drinking a glass of warm water with honey and lemon early in the morning is good for health. A age old adage which is prescribed by naturopaths, fitness instructors and dietitians. Check these 5 reasons why drinking warm water with lemon and honey is good for your health. The benefit of drinking this mixture early in the morning is that it helps hydrate your system and also improves your immunity. Improves digestion: Lemon, honey and warm water combined help give your digestion an instant boost. Lemon helps your digestive system by adding to the already present acid and assists it in flushing out unwanted toxins. Antibacterial: Honey acts as an antibacterial and beats any infections that might be present in your body. It also helps in the production of intestinal mucus which aids in the flushing out of toxins from the body. Cleans lymphatic system: Lack of water and essential fluids in the lymphatic system can make you feel sluggish and fatigued, lead to constipation, disturbed sleep, high or low blood pressure, stress and an all-round lack in mental function. Energy booster: The honey-lemon-warm water  concoction acts as an instant energy booster – minus the calories. Water helps clear your mind by providing fresh blood to your brain, and lemon activates negatively charged enzymes in your stomach – a great way to combat positively charged enzymes that react with the food you eat adversely, leading to it being digested poorly. Helps in weight loss:  Apart from its properties of cleansing the stomach, lemon present in the mixture contains a type of fiber called pectin that helps make you feel full and keeps cravings at bay. The warm water, honey and lemon also creates a more alkaline atmosphere in your stomach helping you lose weight faster.

Lovingly Handle those Love Handles

Lovingly Handle those Love Handles    There isn't much to love about those love handles and they can be pretty challenging to get rid of. Since love handle fat is on the side of the abdominal area, you need to target the abdominal muscles and really work hard on them to target them precisely.  So here's a good strategy for lovingly let go of your love handles . Apart from having a fat free diet ,do a rigorous 30-minute cardio session every other day and do it for 6 days a week. Now for the love handles add these 4 –sets of exercises specifically for a 10-minute each to work on the love handles.    1. Standard Sit Ups  To perform this exercise properly, start by laying flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Bring your hands together behind your neck, supporting your head. Look up to the sky. As you exhale your breath, use the muscles in your abdomen to lift your chest towards the sky. Inhale your breath, and lower your body back to the starting position.     2. Oblique Sit Ups  The oblique sit ups are more tough compared to the standard sit ups. Position your body in the manner like the Standard Sit Up. Now allow your knees to fall towards one side of your body. Perform the sit up by raising your chest towards the sky and do two sets of 10 repetitions of the oblique sit ups.    3. Side Planks   To do this exercise, start by laying on your right side on an exercise or yoga mat. Make sure your legs are extended completely out to the side. Rest your right elbow on the ground, with your forearm on the ground. Look straight in front of you. As you exhale your breath, use the muscles in your abdomen and obliques to lift your torso and upper legs off the ground. Keep your hips and core elevated. 4. Cycle Crunches  To perform this exercise, lay flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground. Bring your hands behind your neck, supporting your head. Exhale your breath deeply, and raise your chest towards the sky while at the same time twisting your torso slightly to one side. Bring your right elbow to your left knee, and then lower your body back to the ground. Next, lift your chest towards the sky, bringing your left elbow to your right knee. Repeat all these exercises until you have performed two sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise.

Goat's Milk?

Goat's Milk? Not all of us are open to even thinking of goat's milk to drink. A few of us might have heard a voice in the streets selling Goat's milk, early in the morning. There are quite a good number of families in India who still prefer it to Cow's/ Buffalo's milk. They even feed it to infants. I have personally heard some American friends tell me that they have tasted Goat's milk and cheese and liked the taste and richness of the texture. Research and Doctors state that  Goat's Milk can be a good replacement for breast milk for the first ten to twelve months, but only in diluted form, 3 parts goat's milk and 1 part water.  Goat's milk is believed to be more easily digestible and less allergenic than Cow's milk. Unlike Cow's milk, goat's milk does not contain Agglutinin. As a result, the fat globules in goat's do not cluster together, making then easier to digest. Goat's milk contains more of the essential fatty acids Linoleic and Arachidonic than Cow's, in addition to a higher proportion of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids; these are easier for intestinal enzymes to digest.    Doctors are recommending Goat's milk for Infants who  are allergic to Cow's milk. It contains only  trace amounts of an allergenic casein protein Alpha that is found in Cow's milk. Casein in goat's is similar to human milk and hence creates not much digestive trouble in the child's tummy. Goat's milk forms softer protein clumps by the action of the stomach acid, which makes the protein more easily and rapidly digestible. Less reflux is seen in Children on goat's milk compared to Cow's milk. Many mothers who tried Goat's milk have described their children tolerating goat's milk better than Cow's.

Fitness with sticks and dance

Fitness with sticks and dance   A new form of exercise called Pound, where a  Los Angeles-based workout created by two fitness buffs  Cristina Peerenboom and Kirsten Potenza where you use drumsticks instead of the typical free weight for exercising. The difference is that the sticks used called RipStix weigh a pound each and are the movements are like you are drumming on a drum pad. Only that you would be drumming hard either in the air or on the floor and tapping your way to a toner body. According to Peerenboom and Potenza, “striking the ground and simulating drumming allows the participant to hear and see the body working symmetrically in form and exertion. This teaming of sound and motion is absent from all other workouts available today.” And because of this non-stop motion, you can sweat and burn up to 900 calories during an hour-long class. Now after reading this you might think of something familiar which we Indians have been doing since ages. Yes! The Traditional Kolatam in South India and the Dandia in North India. The amount of practice put in to perfect these steps paramount’s to a fantastic work out and there is no need to limit this to the festival times. You can form a group of friends, put on some foot tapping Bollywood numbers and do these dance exercises. Innovate the hand and leg movements and increase and decrease the tempo for an effective workout. But remember to increase the weight of the sticks for the added toning of the arms and enjoy the benefits of a well-toned body.

Follow her fitness plan

Follow her fitness plan   We have seen many star children who have made their entry into filmdom and have been successful too. But their success story was not so simple. They have put in a lot of hard work in training to act, emote and the most important of all  to get into shape and stay slim and fit. We found this interesting information about actress Sonakshi Sinha’s fitness regime which helped her loose 30 kgs and we thought that it should be defiantly shared with you. Before she entered films she was 90 kgs due to a highly inactive lifestyle and junk food eating. So to change that she went into a strict diet and workout routine. Work-out routine Apart from the  cardio  and weight training, she also included cycling, tennis, swimming and functional training in her routine. Thrice-a-week, she also did hot yoga to help her lose weight and tone her body. Diet She gave up her favourite dishes stopped eating junk food completely and started eating well-balanced meals. She was on a high-protein, low-carb diet to support her strenuous work out. .  Eating small meals every three hours helped her keep her energy high and burn more calories. Here’s what her diet plan consisted of: Breakfast: Cereal and milk or whole wheat toast Mid morning: Some dry fruits and a cup of green tea Lunch: Home-made roti and sabzi with salad Evening: A fruit or a cup of green tea Dinner: Dinner was eaten early and consisted of only protein food like dal, chicken, egg whites and fish. She did not have carbohydrates after 6 pm. She had  green tea throughout the day and also a lot of water to keep her hydrated The gym sessions caused a lot of pain and aches but she kept motivating herself and challenging herself with losing hope and eventually lost 30 kgs. This hasn't ended here and she is still continuing with her regime and looks fab. A success story that we could learn  and imbibe from.

5 Fitness Mistakes to Avoid

5 Fitness Mistakes to Avoid     Learn from these 5 common mistakes in order to prevent falling away from your 2 months past-New year resolution! It helps with loss of motivation.  1. Focusing on just one aspect of wellness: To achieve a total wellness goal, its important to follow a complete program which includes nutrition, resistance training and cardiovascular exercises-all leading to a "synergy" effect that produces maximum results. 2. Not cleaning up a wrong diet first: The first step towards the goal should be correct healthy diet and nutrition. Instead if we start off with the exercise routine, but still continue eating high fat, caloric food, we will be where they started, except for the tiresome effort.  A good nutritious diet will increase body energy. This prepares the body for more intense exercise, and we will feel better while still working out.  Remember that meals can't just be healthy--they must be a balance of carbohydrates, proteins and essential fats. Vitamin/mineral supplementation is also important to ensure we get the required amounts of essential micro nutrients and antioxidants. 3. Going too fast: Our body needs time to adjust to the sudden exercise routine and similarly, needs time everytime we start a new exercise. Gradually build up intensity and duration of work out to avoid unnecessary soreness of body muscles, injury and discomfort. This gradual pace will help us enjoy the work out process.  4. Skipping out on warming up, cooling down and stretching steps: Cutting through a warm up step forces the body to stretch beyond its preparation and causes injury and tiresomeness.  A 5-10 minute cool down step is also essential between exercises to reduce the amount of adrenaline in the blood, to flush out toxins and muscle soreness.  Don't forget to stretch. When joints and muscles are stretched, their range of motion increases overtime, phasing out from a stiff body.   5. Acting on bad advice: Don't start working on an exercise just because someone suggested it, or you saw it on TV. To achieve significant long-term results, seek an expert advice. Some exercises are not meant for everybody, in such scenarios, experts definitely play a key role. Doing a wrong exercise may put your body in jeopardy. You might have regrets later!

Food influences Your Mood

Food influences Your Mood     We have read enough about food, dietary food, food for diabetes and other food related content .So as part of this food related journey we have identified that food also influences you mood. Obviously the ice cream elevates the child’s mood and the freshly baked pizza with all the toppings is bound to make your mouth water and in turn the very thought of it elevates your mind and leads to  happiness. Many studies have shown the relationship between physical activity and mental health, and have proven that regular exercise can help relieve depression. An old study conducted by doctors in Canada  and published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 2012 also shows the relationship between the foods you eat and your mental health. The study shows that the amounts of calories, carbohydrates, fiber, fat, and vitamins and minerals in people’s diets relate closely to their mood and mental function. This is important evidence of just how important good nutrition is, not only for your physical health but also your mental health. The doctors propose more research to understand just how exactly food affects mood. Most people, especially those who experience mood disorders, may need to improve their diet and eat more nutritious, unprocessed, natural foods. Including fresh fruits, veggies, leafy vegetables and lean meats in your diet is very important and an oft repeated sermon. The difference is you could make these more palatable by cooking them in a healthy and appealing style to suit your palate. You could also consider meeting a dietitian or nutrition expert for more help. Try alternate healing processes like Naturopathy to experience this. At the end of the day you are what you eat and a healthy body leads to a healthy mind!