Coolest Marathons in the World

There are regular marathons and half marathons, and then there are really cool marathons! Whats a cool marathon? Let’s show you..

Being in India, we’ve got our share of marathons/runs across Indian cities. But there is a hidden gem among them all. The Great Tibetian Marathon.  Every July, this marathon is held in the Tibetian plateau of Leh/Ladakh. You literally run on top of the world! Set in the Trans-Himalayan backdrop, this marathon offers a unique and exceptional running experience! If you’re not a marathon runner, you could take part in the 5k, 10k or the half marathon! To register for the Great Tibetian Marathon, go here. Here’s more info on the Great Tibetian Marathon.

Next is truly the coolest .. or rather the coldest marathon- The Polar Circle Marathon. Set in the snowy locales of Greenland, besides being unique, it would be an incredibly tough marathon. Held in October, the average temperature is around -5C/25F. Most of it is run on gravel roads/paths, except the part that’s on the 3 km thick Greenlandic ice cap! If you want to sign up or know more about this marathon, go here.

Another place you never thought of running the marathon .. the Great Wall of China. Yes, the Great Wall Marathon. Set on the majestic Great Wall, this marathon runs along the wall. The run and scenery take your breath away. Some part of the marathon is climbing up and down stairs of the wall, making it even tougher. Held in May every year, this would be another cool marathon to do. Go here for more information.

Going from moutainous marathons to flat land, is the Big Five Marathon- held among the wildlife of the African Savannah, you get to run right through the habitat of African wildlife. No fences or borders seperate the runners from the wildlife, adding to the adrenaline of the run. Another unique race is spectacular surrounding. Check this for more info.

Going from the African Savannah to the ruins of Petra in Jordan, is the Petra Marathon held in September, debuting in 2009. They have a marathon and an ultra half marathon (22.3 km). For more info, go here.

Another cool marathon is the Big Sur Marathon. There are probably some more cool marathons out there. If you know of more, do share with us! Some day, we’d like to do all these marathons

Lose weight, get smart!

You already know the benefits of losing weight- It is good for your heart, help you live longer, and eases depression. But can it make you smarter?

Apparently, it does make you smarter! Researchers at Stanford University found that patients who had undergone gastric bypass surgery showed improvement in memory, problem solving, and attention to detail.

Research showed that belly fat contains harmful chemicals, when released into the bloodstream, trigger inflammation and cloud the mind. Know more why belly fat is unhealthy.

Before you book yourself expensive weight loss surgery to test out this theory, experts say losing weight through diet and exercise has the same effect. Thirty minutes a day of exercise is all you need to get in shape. We have tons of weight loss tips, diet tips, exercises to get fit, and info about healthy foods/recipes.

Healthiest Chocolate in India

We all love chocolate, but do you know- Which is the healthiest chocolate? which is the lowest calorie chocolate? which chocolate has the highest fat? which is the highest calorie chocolate?

Fitho has done an analysis of the popular chocolate bars and has all the answers for you. So, which are the popular ones that we considered: Kitkat, Mars, Snickers, Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Munch, Twix and Gems

As a standard, all these chocolates have sugar as first ingredient. Most of them have another form of carbohydrate or fat as the second ingredient as a second ingredient. Snickers had peanuts as its second ingredient! (We really liked that) Understand why order of ingredient listing matters!

The standard favourite of all kids- Cadbury Dairy Milk came out with the highest fat content at 29 gm of fat, per 100 gm of chocolate.

Snickers had the lowest carbohydrates. So, if you’re watching your diet intake of carbs, Snickers is your best choice. It had a high fat content from its peanut content. And we all know how nuts are good for health.

One of the biggest suprises was that Kitkat uses hydrogenated vegetable oils. As a result, Kitkat contains trans fatty acids! Note that Gems, Munch and 5 Star also uses hydrogenated vegetable fat. Normally that leads to trans fatty acids, but Gems did not list the details of fat content.

The lowest calorie chocolate and lowest fat content was Gems surprisingly, at 390 calories and 13.4 gm of fat.

So, what is Fitho’s choice of the healthiest chocolate- Snickers! Even with a high calorie content, we liked that it had the lowest carbohydrate content, and that it contained lots of peanuts! Quality of ingredients is always a key factor.

Read about chocolate health benefits and know the healthiest among dark, white and milk chocolate. Regardless of which chocolate you eat, they’ve all got lots of sugar and fat, so its best to share your chocolate. Win favours and avoid the extra calories!

Below is the nutritional information for leading 4 chocolates in India:
Kitkat: 486 calories, 6.5 gm protein, 60 gm carbohydrates, 24.5 gm fat, 23.5 gm saturated fat, 0.5 unsaturated fatty acids, 0.5 gm trans fatty acids, 192 mg calcium
Ingredients: sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, milk solids, wheat flour, cocoa solids

Mars: 455 calories, 4.3 gm protein, 68.5 gm carbohydrates (sugar 62 gm), 18 gm fat (saturated fat 8 gm), 1 gm fiber
Ingredients: sugar, glucose syrup, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, vegetable fat (palm oil), cocoa mass, skim milk powder, whey powder

Snickers: 506 calories, 9.5 gm protein, 55.4 gm carbohydrates, 27.4 gm fat
Ingredients: Sugar, peanuts, glucose syrup, skim milk powder, vegetable fat, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder

Cadbury Dairy Milk: 529.7 calories, 10.2 gm protein, 59.7 gm carbohydrates (sugar 56.5 gm), 29 gm fat
Ingredients: sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, cocoa solids

Cadbury 5 Star:  440.6 calories: 3.9 gm protein, 72.3 gm carbohydrates (sugar 52.3 gm), 16 gm fat
Ingredients: Liquid glucose, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable fats, milk solids, cocoa solids,

Munch: 480 calories: 5.9 gm protein, 64.6 gm carbs (sugar 27.5 gms), 21.5 gm, trans fatty acids: 0.1 gm, calcium 106 mg
Ingredients: sugar, wheat flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, milk solids, cocoa solids

Twix: 492 calories: 4.8 gm protein, 64.0 carbs, 24.1 gms fat
Ingredients: sugar, glucose syrup, wheat flour, vegetable fat, skim milk powder, cocoa butter

Gems: 390 calories: 4.8 gm protein, 64.4 gm carbs (60.1 gm sugar), 13.4 gm fat
Ingedients: Sugar, milk solids, hydrogenated vegetable fat, cocoa solids

Note: All weights and nutritional analysis is per 100 gms of each product.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, likepersonal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Can muscles turn to fat

A common concern before people start working out is – If you stop working out, does muscle become fat? This is a common myth. Let’s show you how.

When you start working out, your body builds muscle. To build and maintain muscle, your body uses calories. As a result, your metabolic goes up. With an increased metabolic rate, your body needs more calories to maintain itself. So, you get hungrier and you eat more. As long as you keep up the cycle of working out and eating appropriately, life is great.

Now when you stop working out for a long period of time, due to inactivity your muscles begin to atrophy (shrink in size). So, your muscle mass reduces. With a reduced muscle mass, your body needs fewer calories to maintain itself, thus the amount of food needs to reduce appropriately.

This is the problem. When people stop working out, they don’t reduce their diets appropriately to match their reducing metabolic rates. So, they stop working out but keep eating the same amount of food. As a result, there is excess calories in the body. And we all know what happens with excess calories- they get stored as fat in the body.

So, muscle does not turn into fat. Its the extra calories that you eat that turn into fat. Next time someone tells you that muscles turns into fat, feel free to enlighten them or send them to us! And just know that as long as know your daily calorie requirement, you won’t gain any weight!

Similarly, know that muscle does not turn into bone either!

How many daily Calories do I need?

Do you know your body’s daily calorie requirement? All labels provide exact calorie counts and fat content in food servings. You know how many calories in your drinks. You might also know how calories you burn through exercise. But do you know how many calories you should be eating to lose weight, or how many calories you should eat to maintain your current weight, or even gain weight? How to calculate your daily calorie needs? Most people have no clue, so we’ve got a really fast and easy way to know that.

There are many ways to calculate your daily requirement- also known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate. For really accurate estimates, you need fancy equipment and fancy mathematics. just need an estimate, since we don’t  So, for most of us, a fast and easy method to determine calorie needs is to multiply you total current body weight by the multiplier provided below:

Calorie intake for Weight loss
Sedentary Lifestyle: 20 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 25 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight

Calorie intake for Weight Maintenance
Sedentary Lifestyle: 25 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 35 calories per kg of body weight

Calorie intake for Weight gain
Sedentary Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 35 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 40 calories per kg of body weight

Lifestyle Key
Sedentary Lifestyle: Not much activity.
Moderately Active Lifestyle: Varying between completely sedentary and some activity through the day (like working out in the gym).
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: Extremely active throughout the day

Due to an average lower body weight, women will require fewer daily calories than men. This is a very easy way to estimate caloric needs, but there are obvious drawbacks to this method because it doesn’t take into account, your body composition.

Because body fat percentage is not accounted for, this formula is not completely accurate. To know your exact (calorie requirement) Resting Metabolic Rate, call us or email us (info below), to get a Body Composition Analysis performed. Its a detailed report, on the fat, muscle, skeletal mass and detailed body analysis. And it takes 5 minutes.

Calculating calories from packaged food is easy, since they have clear nutrition labels. Knowing the calories for home cooked food requires some home work, but its possible- read here.

As mentioned above, this is not the most accurate method of determining your metabolic rate, but its an easy and fast way to guess your daily calorie requirement.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2009- Official Date

We have the official date for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon! The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is going to be held on November 1, 2009 in New Delhi.

Other details are still pending, but we’ll keep you updated! To be the first to know, sign up for our Marathon Updates

Read below on how to start running and preparing for a marathon…

If you’re not a runner, now is the time to start preparing. We have enough tips on our site to get to prepared: Tips to Run Better Part 1, Tips to Run Better Part 2,  Tips to Run Better Part3.

You have enough time to prepare your self for the half marathon- that is 21 kms. If you’re not up for that, try the Dream Run at about 6-7 km.

Need a proper running plan to get you started and prepare you for the 6 km Dream Rum (Mini Marathon)? Sounds like too much- don’t worry, with 2 months, we’ll comfortably get you on track and running! Contact Fitho or email fitness@fitho.in for running plans and nutrition plans in Delhi!

To stay updated on how to participate in the 2009 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, sign up with our Marathon Updates newsletter – registration, dates, routes, fees, age eligibility criteria, etc! Sign up with our newsletter and we’ll keep you updated!

Healthiest Chocolate Biscuits India

Kids and adults are both fans on chocolate biscuits! But are they good for health? As we’ve told you before, biscuits are not diet food, but if you can’t stop eating them, then you should know which chocolate biscuit is the healthiest? Which biscuit one has dangerous trans fats? And which choco chip biscuit has the lowest calories?

We’ve done a nutritional analysis of the leading chocolate biscuits in the market- Britannia Good Day Chocolate Chip, Parle Hide and Seek, Britannia Bonbon, Sunfeast Tasty Choco cream.

One of India’s oldest chocolate biscuits, the Britannia Bonbon came out with the highest sugar content at 39 gm of sugar per 100 gms of biscuit. This was 25% more sugar calories than the others, that were all around 31 gm of sugar.

The lowest calorie count came out to be Britannia Good Day Chocolate Chip. Per 100 gms of biscuits, it came in at 461 calories. This was slightly lower than the other that ranged from 470 to 480 calories, per 100 gm of weight.

The protein content in all the biscuits was all around 6 gm of protein per 100 gms. Clearly, biscuits are not exactly a protein source The fat content in all these ranged between 15-19 gms. The lowest was Sunfeast Tasty Choco Cream at 15.4 gm of fat, but this one had trans fats! Clearly, we don’t recommend this one. Trans fats are harmful fatty acids. Many cities and countries have banned the use in food (not India). They are created by hydrogentation of vegetable oil used in food processing and production.

Last but not the least, we always consider ingredients. Parle Hide and Seek came out on top in this one. All the biscuits used Wheat Flour as their first ingredient. The second ingredient was sugar for most, except Parle Hide and Seek that used chocolate chips

So, which chocolate biscuit is Fitho’s choice? We have two winners. Our top choices are Britannia Good Day Chocolate Chip for their lowest calorie count, and Parle Hide and Seek for the taste as well as their ingredients, since they used more chocolate chips than others as part of ingredient list. Britannia Bonbon was 3rd, and Sunfeast was at the bottom of our list, since it contains trans fats! Read about chocolate health benefits and know the healthiest among dark, white and milk chocolate.

Below is the nutritional information for all the 4 chocolate biscuits for India:
Britannia Good Day Chocolate Chip: 461 cal, 68.5 carbs (32 sugar), 5.7 gm protein, 18.3 gm
Ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, chocolate chips (14.5%), edible veg oil

Parle Hide and Seek: 481 calories, 73 gm carbs (32 gm sugar), 5.7 gm protein, 18.5 gm
Ingredients: wheat flour, chocolate chips (27%), sugar, edible veg oil

Britannia Bonbon: 470 calories, 69 gm carbs (39 gm sugar), 5.8 protein, fat 19 gm
Ingredients: Wheat flour, sugar (36%), edible vegetable oil, milk solids, starch, cocoa solids

Sunfeast Tasty Choco cream: 470 cal, 6.1 protein, 76.7 gm carbs (31 sugar), 15.4 gm fat (trans fats)
Ingredients: Wheat flour, sugar, edible vegetable oil, hydrogenated vegetable oils

Note: All weights and nutritional analysis is per 100 gms of each product.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, likepersonal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Heart Health Indian Women- Go Red Sari and Fitho

At Fitho, we believe in improving health and fitness levels for Indians across the world. Indians are prone to hypertension and diabetes. Indians are also genetically prone to more harmful belly fat, that puts us at a higher risk for heart disease and other disorders. We have tied up with Go Red Sari initiative to promote heart health among Indian women across the world.

About Go Red Sari: This initiative has been created for the Asian Indian women, in order to alleviate heart health issues. By working with the women, we will also reach our secondary target population of men. Women within the Asian Indian society, manage the health and well being of the family and often neglect their own health for their family. Our goal is to help women become aware of their health, especially that of the heart, and learn positive behaviors to better it. Through Go Red Sari, we aspire to make every woman and her family live healthier and longer lives.

About Fitho: Fitho helps Indians get fit. To get free tips on health, fitness and weight loss, specially for Indians, sign up for our newsletter:

Did you know that high carb foods can cause Heart Attacks?
And you might be obese according to the new Indian health guidelines?

If you need to lose weight, get on a healthy weight loss plan, with a balanced diet and an effective exercise routine. We even provide a personal manager to help you stay on track, and answer any questions. If you need more motivation, try our personal trainer program. On any of these programs, besides losing weight, you will be fitter, look better and be healthier. Isn’t that the point of weight loss?!

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