Apps to check your heart health

I've already mentioned my daily routine in the previous post and here I would like to talk about the methods that motivate me to stay active, eat better and stay happy.

What motivates me to stay active!

1) Nestle Choose Wellness: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nestle.choosewellness&hl=en

I feel that even though I may exercise during weekends and have a healthy diet, it is important to even track your health using apps and enter your daily routine from time-to-time.

I downloaded this app few months back. The app is a great way to make a person more active and at the same time one gets rewarded for his/her achievements. The Nestle Choose Wellness app makes you do special tasks like:

 a. Take the stairs instead of using a lift and take 2 steps at once (Reward: 2 points)
 b. Replace full fat yogurt with low fat (Reward: 2 points)
 c. Share your achievements (rewards) on Facebook, Twitter (Reward: 5 points)

After performing the tasks, one gets a total score (rewards called Wellness Boosts) which motivates the person to do better and Nestle everyday adds new fun tasks which help the person to be healthy and active and these tasks are really simple to complete.

The interface is very easy to operate and one just has to click the "Fin out how" option and get started by signing in with Twitter or Facebook. It helps in achieving the goals by giving simple tasks which help you exercise and at the same time to follow a healthy diet. I use this app on a daily basis as it would benefit me to earn maximum reward points means I would become more active and thus healthy as well.

What motivates me to eat better!

Calorie counter - MyFitnessPal: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfitnesspal.android&hl=en

This app helps me to keep track of my calories without the need to count them manually. It lets me enter food items from anywhere by just using its barcode scanner and it uses its own database to calculate the calories which is just amazing. I can enter my own recipes and feed it in the app at anytime. It's exercise tracker counts how many calories I've burned during the day and it keeps an account of what meals do I consume regularly. This app is the best app I've had till date as it helps me add food products with just a click and it's more than fun to use this app and maintain a balanced diet. Eating was never fun until I downloaded this app.

What motivates me to be happy!

Perfect Piano: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamestar.perfectpiano&hl=en

I love playing the piano and guitar when at home and if I don't get time to play these instruments, I try this online app that helps me create new tunes or listen to old songs via the app wherein I can either buy new tunes or set my created tunes as a ringtone. It's my most favorite app that keeps me happy and connected with my instruments and as I hail from a family whose ancestors were all musicians, it is the perfect feeling and way to keep myself happy.

I am joining the Saffolalife #ChhoteKadam initiative in association withBlogAdda and follow these small steps for a healthy heart.

My Daily Routine - #ChhoteKadam initiative

During a week, I just get 2 days for myself when I can maintain a good diet chart and follow a schedule that can keep me healthy and fit. My routine is quite different from the routines I follow from Monday-Friday due to my work and this schedule is fixed for every Saturday and Sunday (unless I've planned something else). Here are ways in which I stay active, eat better and be happy.

My Activity Schedule:

6:00 a.m. - 6:15 a.m.: I wake up at 6:00 a.m. and avoid having any breakfast as I go for jogging. Jogging is very good for health and the best time is from 5-6 as I get to inhale fresh air and my entire day goes nicely due to the 15-20 minutes that I spend in jogging. I don't have any park nearby which is a big minus point for me else jogging in a garden is preferable.


7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m: I leave for the gym and I practise weight lifting and run on the treadmill for 15 minutes each. I also follow the diet chart given by my gym as a diet plan. It's necessary to visit a gym and workout atleast once a week for a better body and metabolism that in turn helps you to have a healthy heart and improves your health.


2:00p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: I go out for a walk to digest my food at around 2:00 p.m. and also climb stairs as a part of an exercise.

5:40 p.m. - 6:40 p.m.: I workout during this time and practise yoga asanas as well as work on the treadmill to stay fit and healthy.

9:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.: I practise shavasana (sleeping or corpse pose) that helps in relaxing the body muscles and decreases blood pressure. I practise this asana just before going to sleep as it helps to comfort the body and get a good beauty sleep.

My Food Schedule:

6:20 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. I reach home and sit for breakfast. My breakfast includes a bowl of oats, 2 fried eggs with 2 slices of bread and a cup of hot chocolate milkshake. I usually drink coffee during weekdays to keep awake while working but on weekends, I only have chocolate milkshake to stay healthy and it's tasty too. To add to it, I have a bowl of sprouts that mainly includes either grams or moong.

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: I drink an energy drink after leaving the gym which contains proteins and vitamin C that's very good for the health. Sometimes when I don't want to consume an energy drink, I choose a glass of orange juice as it's the best substitute.


12:30 p.m.,- 1:30 p.m.: I have my meals. The food prepared every weekend contains chicken, fish and salad. Fish is rich in omega-3 and helps in reducing cholesterol while chicken contains proteins, vitamins and minerals that helps blood pressure problems. Salad can be a mix of fruits like bananas, apple and oranges or vegetable salad that contains cucumber, tomatoes and onions.


8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.: A healthy dinner includes either chicken or fish curry, fried rice and palak soup as it contains nutrients that help the heart and in healthy development of the bones.


My Entertainment Schedule:

6:30 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.: I rest for about 30 minutes and either spend time reading the newspaper or watching news on television. This is the most relaxing time as having a healthy breakfast after jogging is the most relaxing thing to do and I give my body a break before a hectic workout schedule.

9:00 a.m. - 12:30 a.m.: I again rest for about 3.5 hours after a heavy workout and drinks. This is the time I spend with my family, we share some jokes, some fun moments and also share the plans we have for the week. If it's a Saturday, we either plan to go for a movie the next day or a picnic as we barely get time to entertain ourselves.

3:00 p.m. - 5:00p.m.: I go to sleep for 2 hours as it's the best way to make the body rest and gain energy for another workout.

6:40 p.m.-8:30 p.m.: This is the time we either switch to Zee Cinema or any other movie channel and watch a movie. I get relief from my day's workout and just stay happy watching an entertaining movie.

I am joining the Saffolalife #ChhoteKadam initiative in association withBlogAdda and follow these small steps for a healthy heart.

A day at SMWMumbai - Hyatt

I attended the SMWMumbai event held on 16th September at Hyatt Regency and had a great time attending the sessions and getting a lot of details and information about social media.


First session with Satya Raghavan:

The first session started with Satya Raghavan who explained about various ways of monitizing digital content. Since I have a YouTube channel, this information helped me a lot as he said that each and every video that I create can earn me income if I let ads be placed along with my video and I can earn money from the first view onwards. Content sharing is a very good method of monitization and he explained that we need to choose ads as per their creativity and genre and he explained this by showing us an Ambuja cement ad thta has been getting maximum views from users.

Second session with Prahlad Kakar

Third session with Prahlad Kakarwas enjoyable as he kept showing us ads of Cadbury, Ericsson and other ads that made us think about what ads catch the attention of the users and which ads make them think. He explained that ads should be such that the audience can relate to them and with the Cadbury ad, he explained that women used to feel that the girl shown in the ad lives in the heart while now it's become a reality. It was interesting to hear how well he explained the way ads try to connect with the audience and promote their product.


Third session with Heidi Hattenbach, Priya Naik and Sonal Zaveri

This session was the best one for me as it spoke how social media and technology can help during natural calamaties. The speakers explained the ways how they have 5 important phases while helping the victims of natural calamaties like the Government, Ericcson who is their technology partner and gets a network established in the areas affected, a protocol they need to follow, media who helps the news get to the world and donors who help the victims.

Fourth session with Karishma Mehta

This session with Karishma was quite informative as she explained how she started her journey by connecting to people whom she did not know in person but this became a method of communication for her and she went on to meet people from the streets and writing posts about them on facebook, thus creating her own community.

Fifth session with Anand Desai, Atul Kasbekar and Lavin Mirchandani

The speaker Atul spoke about content management and he explained how people brand themselves and connect with a social media platform to promote themselves and their brand. He spoke about his movie Neerja and Pink and also how these movies left an impact on the audience. He said that celebrities influence social media and that products matter first.


Sixth session with Gopa Kumar, Adarsh Munjal, Pankaj Parihar, Rohit Raj and Sanjay Vasudeva

This was a very active session where the speakers like Adarsh and Rohit Raj spoke about infleuncer marketing and Adarsh made us understand who are influencers and what do influencers need. He said that influencers need an interest of passion, knowledge and an opportunity. He said that brands need brands need brand ambassadors and Rohit said influencers need to know about interest, knowlegde and research and then adapt themselves.


Seventh session with Krishna Dorai
Krishna gave an interesting insight to the concept of being a True Wanderer and he speaks about the spirits of wrangler and the journey of a wrangler in India. He said that he has been running 'Search for True Wanderers' since 2012. A biker, Gaurav Siddharth, was awarded a prize as well during this session.


Eigth session with Aadil Bandukwala

Aadil spoke basically about twitter and how we have engaging tweets that keep us active and how brands tweet about a thought that make us think and react. He gave examples of CIA and said that we remember these tweets as they stand out for us.


Ninth session with KV Sridhar
Sridhar explained how brands need to behave as people behave in order to connect and make people relate to them. He also mentioned that data today needs to be observed and adopted and there is a lot of change how we can articulate an idea today compared to 20 years back which is all because of media.


Tenth session with Varun Joshua, Karthik Nagarajan and Nikhil Tiwari
This session made me aware of artificial intellingence that I had learnt during my college days and how we can use AI in today's time. The speakers explained how AI changes the game of recruiting and enabled communitty engagement. Varun gave an example of communicating online and its uses.

Eleventh session with Rajat Mehta, Namrita Mahindro, Prabhakaran and Dr Kushal Sanghvi

Rajat spoke about 5 lac people participating in a short film contest with Yes Bank and how Yes Bank is the most followed bank on twitter. It made users engage with the brand and amateur short film makers were helped with funds. A short film was played during this session making us realize that dreams have no age barrier.

Twelvth session with Hema Sardesai, Soumini Sridhara Paul, Faridoon Shahryar and Amit Yadav
Coming towards the second last session, Hema explained how artists connect with social media and fans are bought on Twitter that reduces the credibility. It was interesting to hear the Q&A session that revealed the importance of content a blogger can give and his credibility is assessed based on the content. Hema sang a song from her latest album based on Ganesh Chaturthi and made the audience sing along with her that was fun to watch.


Thirteenth session with Mahesh Murthy

This was the last session with Mahesh Murthy who said that optimizing data is a method for influencers and we all require a social inbox wherein we have contacts to share our data with. He also mentioned that social media helps everyone irrespective of their culture.


The 13 sessions that I witnessed at SMWMumbai made me get a bank of information about social media and I am very happy to be a part of such insightful and knowledgeable session. It was a great experience I shared.

Masterclass at SMWMumbai with Blogadda

Mr. Kavi started his session by mentioning his Twitter ID which is '_Kavi' and he spoke about how he went about choosing this username that became his recognition later on. He said that he tried to search a username that's close to him and the underscore was one he was familiar with and ever since he had this Twitter ID, it became his name and that's what he referred to as personal branding.

He described 4 types of users:

1. Prisoners - People who remain focused.
2. Holiday - People who don't have a fixed time to write.
3. Experts - People who are experts in their field.
4. Explorers - People who are interested in learning and working.

Mr. Kavi also explained ways we can brand ourselves through self expression as there are many people these days who ask others to get information about themselves via the internet (like Google them) or people mainly interact via Youtube channels and videos and that's the way we interact virtually with people. He explained how we need to choose a topic that can represent us and then blog about the same and share them online to get more customers. We need to be programmed and even choose a color that can represent ourselves. This way, we keep ourselves focused on a particular subject that we consider as ourselves and that's how we can brand ourselves.

Kavi also explained how people can choose from all the platforms available like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google + and Youtube and then consider one platform as the way to promote their brand or that's close to them and their brand and then remain focused on the output.It was interesting to note how we can brand ourselves and associate ourselves with a platform to make us be known with the help of a platform.

He also explained about the 1:9:90 percent wherein 90 percent people consume, 9 curate and 1 create and we should recognize where we stand and how do we define ourselves.

The session ended with Mr. Kavi explaining us who we should be connect with and how our users are also connecting with people and these may be people who can be domain experts, people who share, people who respond and that's when we start personal branding.