"The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation." Jacob Bronowski

6 Mistakes That Keep You Fat By: Lisa Jones

Summary

1. Skipping Meals
2. Speed-Eating
3. Pigging Out on Weekends
4. Drinking
5. Eating in Front of TV and Dozing Off

We're not suggesting "The Situation" as a role model. But there is one hard-body lesson you can take from MTV's Jersey Shore loudmouth: The less body fat you carry, the better your abs will show.

Start by performing triage on the six eating habits listed here. But don’t try to banish them all at once. "Target just one or two behaviors at first—ones that you can make the most difference by changing," says Jennifer McDaniel, R.D., of St. Louis University.

The reason: Recent studies show that we have only so much willpower. That's why trying to break several bad habits at once can be overwhelming. But if you follow the slow and steady approach, you’ll increase your odds of sculpting a thinner, fitter physique—and keeping it for life.

Skipping Meals or Snacks

Not eating can mess with your body's ability to control your appetite. But it also destroys willpower, which is just as damaging. "Regulating yourself is a brain activity, and your brain runs on glucose," says Martin Ginis. If you skip breakfast or a healthy snack, your brain doesn't have the energy to say no to the inevitable chowfest.

So skipping a feed helps turn us into gluttons at night. Your starving brain "just doesn't have the fuel it needs to keep you on track, monitoring your diet.

Break it: This one's easy. Spread your calories out into three meals of about 500 calories each, and two snacks of 100 to 200 calories each, says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of California at Davis. Most men who are trying to lose weight still need at least 1,800 to 2,200 calories a day, says Applegate. More important, change your mindset, she says. Think I'm going to start a new routine, not I'm going to restrict myself. Restriction leads to overeating

Speed-Eating

Use the nondiet approach: You're not denying yourself food, you're just eating it more slowly. Savoring it. Allowing your body some time so you don't keep eating when you're full.

In an experiment published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 17 healthy men ate 11/4 cups of ice cream. They either scarfed it in 5 minutes or took half an hour to savor it. According to study author Alexander Kokkinos, M.D., Ph.D., levels of fullness-causing hormones (called PYY and GLP-1), which signal the brain to stop eating, were higher among the 30-minute men. In real life, the scarfers wouldn't feel as full and could be moving on to another course.

Break it: Your body is trying to tell you something, so give it a chance. Slow down and enjoy your food, says Dr. Kokkinos. Put away the newspaper and turn off the TV. Try this breathing trick from The Yoga Body Diet: Inhale while counting slowly to five; exhale and count slowly to five; repeat three to five times before eating. A study in a 2009 issue of Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that yoga increases mindful eating and results in less weight gain over time

Pigging Out on Weekends

Weekend feasts can cause trouble beyond Sunday. In a recent study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers used rats to examine the effects of palmitic acid on leptin, a hormone that helps regulate appetite. Palmitic acid is found in saturated fat, an ingredient often featured in your favorite weekend grub

"We found that within 3 days, the saturated fat blunts or blocks the ability of leptin to regulate food intake and body weight," says study author Deborah Clegg, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern medical center. So a Friday to Sunday of burgers, fries, and wings may prime your brain to overeat on Monday.

Break it: You don't have to go cold turkey (though turkey on whole wheat is always smart). McDaniel suggests that your reward for a healthy week should be one cheat meal, not an entire weekend of them. After all, having an all-you-can-eat weekend is like eating poorly for nearly 30 percent of your week. That means you'd be eating well just 70 percent of the time. We call that a C minus. Do you really want below-average result

Gorging on Salty Snacks

Sodium is insidious—it causes us to eat unconsciously. It adds up fast: popcorn at the movies, chips during the game, peanuts at the bar. 

Break it: Salt cravings go away after a couple of weeks on a reduced-salt diet, says Thomas Moore, M.D., an associate provost at Boston University medical center. Not many men can replace their favorite snacks with carrots or celery, but give them a try: The crunch may be what you crave. Otherwise, try small amounts of low-sodium chips and pretzels. As you're cooking a dish, skip the salt and, if you want, add just a dash at the table. "Salt added to the surface of a food item is far more noticeable than the same amount of salt cooked into a recipe," says Dr. Moore. A slow reduction of your salt habit pays off in fewer cravings, he says.

Drinking

Alcohol, that is. Here's an exercise to start tonight: Write down how much beer, wine, and other drinks you consume in a week. (Use that cocktail napkin.) You may surprise yourself. Calculate the calories and expect another surprise. A reasonable-sounding two beers a night can mean more than 2,000 calories a week—almost an extra day's worth. It can take more than 2 hours of running to burn that off . You call that a weight-loss plan? Besides the empty calories, booze undermines your willpower, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Which leads to impulse orders of, say, Buffalo wings.

Break it: Try quitting—for just a week. Check your weight and how your pants fit. See if you can live on less. When you do drink, switch to lower-carb dry red wine (about 4 grams of carbohydrates compared with almost 13 in a regular beer) or low-carb beer.

Eating in Front of the TV, Then Dozing Off

It's a double whammy with a twist. You ingest calories while burning none, and sabotage your secret weight-loss weapon: sleep. Research confirms that people who eat in front of the tube consume more calories (nearly 300, in one study) than those who don't, and that the more TV they watch, the less active they are. And University of Chicago researchers found that people who lost 3 hours of sleep ate about 200 more calories the next day in snacks than those who slept 81/2 hours.

Break it: Donald Hensrud, M.D., medical editor-in-chief of The Mayo Clinic Diet, says, "If you want to watch TV, be active at the same time or go work out and come back—then you can treat yourself with some TV." And make your DVR earn its keep so you can go to bed on a regular schedule. Sleep is a fine habit when done correctly.

Diet Strategies: Lose 30 Pounds : Men's Health

Diet Strategies: Lose 30 Pounds : Men's Health

• Cut-Out Fast-Digesting Carbs
• Eat More Vegetables
• Have Protein at Every Meal
• Don't Be Afraid of Natural Fat
• Forget About Processed Food

1.  Cut Out Fast-Digesting Carbs

For the most part, these are foods that are made with sugar or are high in starch, such as bread, pasta, any other flour-based food, potatoes, and rice. Because they all contain high amounts of glucose, they raise blood sugar quickly. "This is the trigger that signals your body to release a flood of insulin," says Valerie. Eliminate these foods and insulin levels stay near rock bottom. And that simultaneously improves your health and speeds fat loss. In fact, when University of Connecticut researchers analyzed why low-carb dieters were so successful, they calculated that 70 percent of their weight loss stemmed from low insulin levels. (One note: Because milk has a significant number of carbohydrates, it was also off-limits until my blood profile showed I was healthier.)

2.  Eat More Vegetables

This may be the ultimate diet cliche, but there's no question it works. In fact, a study of more than 2,000 low-carb dieters found that, on average, the biggest losers were consuming four servings of nonstarchy vegetables a day. That's virtually any vegetable of your choice other than potatoes (white, sweet, or fried), carrots, and corn. "Eating more produce increases the amount of fiber in your diet, which helps keep you full," says Valerie. For an even greater fiber boost, I added a daily glass of Metamucil (the sugar-free version). If you've never taken Metamucil, its effectiveness in reducing your appetite is nothing short of amazing.

3.  Have Protein at Every Meal

This is especially important at breakfast and with snacks, when guys are most likely to skimp on this muscle-building nutrient. (Thanks a lot, cereal.) Case in point: University of Illinois scientists report that, on average, people consume 65 percent of their protein after 6 p.m. More important, the researchers found that to optimally preserve your muscle as you lose weight, you need to take in protein at each meal throughout the day. "Besides nourishing your muscles, the added protein will help keep you from overeating," says Valerie. The best sources are beef, chicken, fish, dairy, and eggs.

4.  Don't Be Afraid of Natural Fat

That's right, the kind that's found in a piece of meat, an omelet, an avocado, olives, or olive-oil-based dressing. Because fat alone doesn't raise your insulin levels, it has little to do with making you fat, contrary to popular opinion, says Valerie. High amounts of carbs coupled with high amounts of fat are the real culprit, she explains, since they stimulate the release of insulin, causing your body to store fat instead of burn it. But what about heart health? In a review of 13 studies published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers determined that low-carbohydrate diets -- all of which provided at least 50 percent of daily calories from fat -- were more effective at reducing heart-disease risk than traditional low-fat diets.

5.  Forget About Processed Foods

Prediet, I lived on lunchmeat. But Valerie nixed these packaged meats quickly, because most contain added salt (affecting weight and blood pressure) and sugar, as well as nitrates, which are associated with an increased risk of cancer. Instead, I ate ground beef and ground turkey. (Both take only a few minutes to cook at night and taste great cold the following day.) I did slip up, though. On my 15th day on the program, I discovered Terra vegetable chips. "A delicious potpourri of exotic vegetables," the bag says. Sounded healthy to me, so I crunched on them hard during long days at work. A week later, when I told Valerie about my new favorite addiction, a sharp scolding followed. I'd been suckered by the word "vegetable." These chips are made from starchy root vegetables, so their carbohydrate count is similar to that of potato chips; and they're loaded with salt. The scale reflected my mistake. If you follow only one rule, make it this: If it comes in a box or a bag, skip it. I guarantee you'll have success.

Decision

Life is a decision.  And that is the very difficult thing about life.
We are free to make one.

Life was so easy when others have to decide for us and all we have to do is fret about that decision.
It is so easy to blame others and put all of our frustrations to them.

but then everything changes when the ball is given to us
when the time comes that all of our decisions has to be decided by us
and not by anyone.

i remember being scared after graduation.
there is no longer a defined path.
no series of steps to take.

no one gives us a syllabus to inform us what subjects and courses to take.

everything has to be decided by us.

that's the trouble with life.
it gives you something to decide at a time when you don't want to make one.

it presents you choices and decisions has to be made within a timeline.

and that's tough

My Memorable Trip in China Last September 2010

If our memories are archived with tags, then September 15, 2010 will be tagged with the day spent in the airport.


It all started at 6am. I and a colleague from our consignment team decided to leave the hotel early for our 10:25 am flight because we were told that the airport is two hours from the hotel. We wanted to be sure that we won't miss our flight because we have another flight on the same day to reach our destination: Tianjin, China.


The check out went smoothly discounting the fact that the front desk officer does not speak English other than thank you and welcome. Then, it was my colleague's turn. It appeared that they are taking their time because several minutes has passed and they haven't completed the check out process. The front desk officer picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other end of the line sounding a little bit worried. I'm guessing something was wrong and she's worried how to tell us the problem. But the front desk is clever. Instead of telling us the problem, she handed the phone to my colleague (and maybe leaving the other person at the end of the line surprised and worried).


It turned out that they are looking for the hair dryer bag. My coworker told them it should be in the drawer as she did not take anything. The person on the did not accept it as my coworker added "It should be in the drawer. The hair dryer is in the bathroom but she should find the bag inside the drawer in the cabinet". This discussion and repetition took about more than 3 minutes. Finally, my coworker responded that she'll go to the room to show the housekeeping personnel where the bag is. That's where the discussion ended. Maybe they finally understood what my coworker is saying.


So we were able to check out then I requested for a cab going to the airport. This time I was ready. Anticipating, she would not understand, I used Google translate the night before and stored it in my phone. Here's the translated text.

I'm glad it worked. She told us to wait ten minutes and by 6:43am we are inside a cab going to Hangzhou International Airport.

Hangzhou International Airport

Since we missed our breakfast, we decided to look for a restaurant here. There aren't many. I saw a starbucks logo and I was happy. Not because I love starbucks but because whenever I'm abroad, I don't like trying out foreign foods so my strategy is to look for an American fast food chain and eat there.

As I approached the store, I realized how not wearing my contact lenses affected my vision. The store has a logo that looks like Starbucks from afar.

 I really thought it was a starbucks brand. But since they have a logo that's a rip off of the starbucks logo I decided to get my breakfast here thinking that since they are imitating starbucks, there's a possibility that their coffee is a rip-off as well (hehehe. I don't know if you get my logic.)

I entered and ordered one meatball spaghetti and mocha coffee. I asked for the receipt and the lady gave me a blank stare. I searched through my head the mandarin of asking for a receipt and blurted 'fa piao'. Alas, it worked since i saw her nod. Once again, i'm so proud of myself.


Now, i wanted to eat it out so when the waitress brought spoon and fork in my table, i told her I'll have a takeout food. She was a bit rattled and has a expression in her face saying 'why was i so unlucky that you chose to call me among all the waitresses here?' She listened intently to my instructions pretending she understands but her face show she's not getting any word. Good thing, one of their staff speaks a little bit of English so with a bit of demonstration, she understood what i meant.

I got my food and here's Janeth Nieva trying out the other resto.

By 9:45, the check in counter opened and at exactly 10:15 we are already sitting in our assigned seats. The second problem happened here. The flight attendant announced in the speaker words in Mandarin. I listened intently hoping I'll pick up some words but failed. (If I had my twitter, I could have twitted #fail). After the long Mandarin speech, she said in English, "May I have your attention please, our flight will be delayed and we will inform you as soon as we got an update". Great! I now knew that our flight will be delayed for reasons I don't know.


Looking at the other passengers, they don't seem to care that our flight was delayed. Everyone is chatting and taking pictures. It seems that everyone knows each other. I thought that if this is in the Philippines, the situation will be entirely different. Everyone will be complaining by now. I was trying to figure out why people are not complaining and Janeth told me that maybe airplane here is like the regular bus. They use it often like a regular transportation. Well, yes. It maybe the reason. Most of us when travelling in the Philippines are out for vacation or for some important business and a minute of flight delay eats up precious minutes of our travel time so it is perfectly reasonable to complain. Besides, we paid to get to our destination on time and not getting there as promised is totally not a good customer service.


We waited patiently in our seats as the flight attendants started giving drinks and cookies to passengers. By 11:30 am, the plane started to move. I was expecting an update from the flight attendant explaining what happened but did not get one. Never mind. At least we're already moving.


Qingdao International Airport



By 1:00pm, we landed in Qingdao International Airport. In my mind, I was a bit thankful for the delay because it shortened our waiting time here in the airport. Our next flight is scheduled on 5:05pm in the afternoon so the delay earlier shortened our stay here in the Airport.

The airport is nice. It is larger than any of our airports but same with the Hangzhou International Airport, restaurants are few. I saw another two cafes and one supermarket. Yes. Supermarket. There's KFC restaurant in the arrival floor but since we have been having our dinner in KFC for the past two nights, we decided not to eat there.



To kill time, I read the book by T Har Eker but just after 30 minutes, my laptop battery gave up on me. Made a mental note to myself to try asking for a new one once I get back since my laptop only gives me 30 minutes of juice even if I fully charge it.


By 3:00 pm, our energy started to dry up as well. 


 (to be continued. )


I'm still trying to find the right words how to narrate the next experience. Janeth was so nervous last night she thought we are being kidnapped. We were able to laugh it off today but yesterday was really scary for her).


(P.S. This is a same day post so pardon for typos and/or grammar errors)

You Become What You Think About Most Of The Time by Helena Syptak

When the son of my friend finished the book "The power of positive thinking", written by Norman Vincent Peale, his dad asked him what did he learn? The son's response was:

"You become what you think about most of the time. And the most important part of each day is what you think about at the beginning of that day."

When you read the biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women you'll find that almost every one of them began their upward trajectory to success when they began getting up early in the morning and spending time with themselves. You need to feed your mind with positive ideas. Here are four things that will help you to do just that. 

Number one - review your plans for accomplishing your goals and change your plans if necessary.

Number two - there might be better ways to accomplish your goals. As an exercise, assume that the way you're going about it is totally wrong and imagine going about it totally differently. What would you do different from what you're doing right now?

Number three - reflect on the valuable lessons that you have learned and are learning as you move toward your goals.

Number four - calmly visualize your goal as a reality. Close your eyes, relax, smile, and see your goal as though it were already a reality.

Your life will start to take off at such a speed that you'll have to put on your seatbelt. Remember, the starting point for achieving financial success is the development of an attitude of unshakable confidence in yourself and in your ability to reach your goals.

No one starts out with this kind of an attitude, but you can develop it using the law of accumulation. Everything counts. No efforts are ever lost. Every extraordinary accomplishment is the result of thousands of ordinary accomplishments that no one recognizes or appreciates. The greatest challenge of all is for you to concentrate your thinking single-mindedly on your goal, and by the law of attraction you will. You must inevitably draw into your life the people, circumstances and opportunities you need to achieve your goals.

Once you've mastered yourself and your thinking, you will become a living magnet for ideas and opportunities to become wealthy. It's worked for me and for every successful person I know. Think and talk about your dreams and goals as if they wew already a reality. Do not wait for tomorrow, start today, now, this very minute. When you change your thinking, you will change your life. You will put yourself firmly on the road to financial independence.

Here are two things you can do every single day to keep your mind focused on your financial goals:

First thing you need to do is to get up a bit earlier in the morning, so you can plan your day in an advance. Take some time to think about your goals and how you can best achieve them. The whole day's tone is set by this.

Second, reflect on the valuable lessons you are learning each day as you work toward your goals. Change your actions in order to correct your course. You have to believe that you are moving toward your goals fast, no matter what happens temporarily on the outside. Just hang in there!

Helena Syptak is a top leader in the home business industry. Helena works with entrepreneurs and success minded people around the world. She devotes her time, energy and skills into her team and helps them to reach their success.