Get angry - get skinny: Outrage will help you slim down and lose weight

  Hey guys, okay, I know it sounds weird, new studies show that we lose our appetite when we are disgusted and angry, Feeling outrage might help us lose weight, this study says.

   In moral behavioural tests, when people became disgusted by immoral acts, their appetite waned.
 
  ‘Exposure to moral violations reduces [food] consumption, and highlights a psychological truth in the metaphorical observation that moral violations “leave a bad taste” in one’s mouth,’ says Cindy Chan, who led the research.

  
   All the participants were given a chocolate milk drink while watching. Those who believed they were viewing an incest film, drank around a third less – 110g compared to 147g.

Are you right-brained or left-brained? And what does it say about your personality? Take this interactive QUIZ to find out

  Are you rational and like to live by the rules? Or creative and curious? Now there's a quiz that will determine why this might be. The idea is that we all have a dominant side of the brain - and this shapes our personality.
People who are right-brained tend to be creative, curious and intuitive, while those ruled by the left are logical, strategic and rational.

  The quiz determine whether you're right-brained or left brained - and explains what this says about your personality
The quiz, created by the website Sommer + Sommer, involves determining which way a figure is dancing, picking an object that looks most pleasing to the eye and which shape most represents friendship. Later, participants are asked to cross their arms, legs and squint - and see how side of the body reacts.

  The idea comes from the idea that certain bodily functions are assigned to either the right or left side of the brain. The brain's right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, while the left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side of the body. In general, the left hemisphere is dominant in language: processing what you hear and handling most of the duties of speaking.

 Questions include determining which way the dancer is turning. The idea comes from the idea that certain bodily functions are assigned to either the right or left side of the brain Another question involves pressing a colour, with a word trick added in for confusion. The brain's right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, while the left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side of the body. It's also in charge of carrying out logic and exact mathematical computations. When you need to retrieve a fact, your left brain pulls it from your memory.

  The right hemisphere is mainly in charge of spatial abilities, face recognition and processing music. It performs some maths, but only rough estimations and comparisons.
The brain's right side also helps us to comprehend visual imagery and make sense of what we see. It plays a role in language, particularly in interpreting context and a person's tone.

  However some critics say there is no such thing - and the notion that our brain has a dominant side that governs out traits – what we are interested in, what are skills tend to be - is nonsense. Shapes are also used to determine aspects of personality.

I took the test, and confirmed I'm left brained.....no wonder am always rational and like to stick to rules.....lol
 
Click HERE to determine if you are left brained or right brained

Tricks to staying fit always.

  Hey guys,how's the weekend going?...great I hope...mine's boring as usual though...any thoughts on how to spice it up??

 Most women around the globe seem to struggle with their weight, we are constant victims of fluctuating weight..its all completely normal and nothing to make you feel bad or depressed about. For someone like me who isn't a size zero, likes food and has the tendency to get fat, 'weight watching' is something I'm used to. One myth most people have about 'dieting' is that its a process u have to do just to get the weight off...big lie!!! One thing I've come to realise over the years, is that maintaining a healthy weight should be a lifestyle, something that is inbuilt, just like u know you are supposed to brush every morning. Its not something you just do whenever you feel you've gotten fat.

  For me, these tricks have helped me maintain my weight

1. Drink lots of water; switch those calorie filled drinks like coke, fanta, milk drinks, alcohol, for water, the benefits of water in maintaining weight cannot be over-emphasised. Or simply reduce your intake of these drinks to at least once a week or once in two weeks...

2. Eat Hot and Spicy foods: this is another wonderful trick that works for me. I like to eat meals that are hot and a bit spicy. When you eat a meal that's hot you tend to eat slower, thereby allowing food particles to be broken down properly for easy digestion. Spicy(pep perish)foods make u drink more water, thereby allowing you to eat a smaller quantity of food.

3. Drink water before a meal: this helps to reduce the quantity of food you eat because you get fuller quickly

4. Eat a lot of vegetables: my mum gives me this look when I take soup alone..but its important at times. the beauty of our local soups is lost when we pile on the 'swallow' eg. eba, akpu, semo, fufu etc. The soups that go along with these foods are usually rich enough in all the nutrients u need that u don't need to eat large amounts of these. Try eating a plate of efo-riro without 'swallow' and see if it isn't okay for a single meal. Add vegetable, fruits salads to your diet.

5. Snack healthily: okay..I know I'm crazy about cookies, I pretty much know every biscuit around, but I always try to incorporate fruits, nuts. into my snack pack, instead of snacking on chocolates, pastries, sweets, ice-cream all the time, i try to eat fruits like bananas, pineapples, apples, oranges, water-melon and the likes. Fruits are antioxidants among other wonderful benefits they provide...snack on fruits!!!

6. Avoid Fried foods..please avoid fried foods as much as possible, high cholesterol level isn't something we want, please bake, steam, boil or grill your food..

7. Exercise no matter how little, I try to be active in any lil way I can. I'll keep stressing on the need for exercise, its very vital for proper functioning of the body and weight loss and weight maintenance isn't far from its benefits, try simple aerobic exercises like skipping, walking, jogging, running, also yoga, pilates..etc before proceeding to other forms of strenuous exercise.

I hope these tricks are useful???

Beer Belly

  Hey everyone, Its been a while I did a post on health, so I thought it was long due. And the first thing that came to my mind was the Beer Belly. I've noticed a lot of men, even younger ones are okay with a bigger mid-section, not saying it doesn't apply to women, it does, but today I'm hoping to give more insight on why its more common in men than women.


 The relationship between alcohol and the infamous pouch popularly called Beer Belly or Pot-belly. If you're trying to lose weight, you probably need to stop drinking alcohol. But is it really beer that causes a "beer belly? Because its not all beer drinkers that have big bellies. It’s not necessarily beer but too many calories that can turn your trim waistline into a belly that protrudes over your pants. Any kind of calories -- whether from alcohol, sugary beverages, or oversized portions of food -- can increase belly fat. However, alcohol does seem to have a particular association with fat in the midsection.

 "In general, alcohol intake is associated with bigger waists, because when you drink alcohol, the liver burns alcohol instead of fat," says Michael Jensen, MD, an endocrine expert and obesity researcher with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

 Beer also gets the blame because alcohol calories are so easy to overdo. A typical beer has 150 calories – and if you down several in one sitting, you can end up with serious calorie overload and don’t forget calories from the foods you wash down with those beers. Alcohol can increase your appetite. Further, when you're drinking beer at a bar or party, the food on hand is often fattening fare like pizza, wings, and other fried foods.

Why Does Fat Accumulate in the Belly?

 When you take in more calories than you burn, the excess calories are stored as fat. Where your body stores that fat is determined in part by your age, sex, and hormones. Boys and girls start out with similar fat storage patterns, but puberty changes that. Women have more subcutaneous fat (the kind under the skin) than men, so those extra fat calories tend to be deposited in their arms, thighs, and buttocks, as well as their bellies. Because men have less subcutaneous fat, they store more in their bellies. That's why Men are more prone to this

 Beer bellies tend to be more prominent in older people because as you get older, your calorie needs go down, you often become less active, and gaining weight gets easier. says Jensen

 Belly fat in the midsection is linked to a variety of health problems, from type 2 diabetes to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Carrying extra pounds in your thighs or hips is less risky than carrying them in the abdominal region...yeeh!!!. Further, subcutaneous fat that you can grab around your waist and on your thighs, hips, and buttocks is not as dangerous as the visceral fat that's found deep within the abdominal cavity surrounding your organs.

 When waist circumference exceeds 35 inches for women and 40 for men, it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and overall mortality," Jensen says. He cautions that these numbers are simply guidelines, and recommends keeping your waist size below these numbers.

Losing Your Belly

 There is no magical way to tackle belly fat other than the tried-and-true method of cutting calories and getting more physical activity. Monounsaturated fats and so-called "belly fat" diets won’t trim your belly faster than any healthy, low-calorie diet, Jensen says.

 Because of the link between alcohol calories and belly fat, drinking less alcohol is a good place to start. Beer lovers should opt for light beers with 100 calorie or less, and limit the number they drink per day. Another option is to drink alcohol only on weekends, and to alternate alcoholic drinks with low-calorie, non-alcohol beverages.

 Don’t forget to have a healthy meal before or with your drinks to help you resist the temptation of high-calorie bar food. Doing sit-ups, crunches, or other abdominal exercises will strengthen your core muscles and help you hold in your belly fat, but won’t eliminate it. The only way to lose belly fat (or any kind of fat) is to lose weight.

 Aerobic exercises like running, swimming, cycling, and tennis are some of the best to help reduce body fat. But "any kind of exercise will help you keep the weight off more effectively than diet alone," Jensen says.

 The good news is that when you start losing weight, you tend to lose it in the midsection first. "Visceral fat is more metabolically active and can be broken down quicker than other fat," Jensen says, "so it is usually the first to go, especially when you have a lot to lose."

Now get out there and lose that Beer Belly!!!

How much Exercise do we need?

  Hey everyone, so sorry for my  absence, the light's been pretty bad here, and I haven't really been inspired lately..I really need a change of enviroment like seriously,..well I'm Supposed to be in church right now, but I had a lil bike accident, yesterday and so I'm stuck here at home and my leg hurts so bad..so I decided to make the most of it, by blogging, cool right?
   Let's talk about Exercise today. How much of it do we need? With this weather, I've being feeling lazy to work out, even walks seems like a big job these days. When it comes to physical activity, some is better than none, and more is better. If you don’t currently exercise and aren’t very active during the day, any increase in exercise or physical activity is good for you. Start slow, and gradually build up the length and intensity of your workouts over time.

  The amount of exercise needed depends on various factors, like age,sex,state of health etc. Generally kids are more active than adults, so might not need as much exercise as adults, but young adults and older adults should try to be active daily and since women have more body fat than men, they should try to exercise more. According to NHS choices, To stay healthy, its good to incorporate:

   - At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as cycling or fast walking every week, and  muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a  week that work major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).

  -75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity such as running or a game of singles tennis every week, jogging and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a
week that work all major muscle groups (legs,
hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).

   What counts as moderate-intensity aerobic activity?
Examples of activities that require moderate effort for most people include:
walking fast, playing tennis,volleyball
basketball, walking the stairs, even thorough cleaning of the house

  One way to do your recommended 150 minutes of weekly physical activity is to do 30 minutes on 5 days a week.
Moderate-intensity activity will raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster and feel warmer. One way to tell if you're working at a moderate intensity is if you can still talk, but you can't sing the words to a song....lol

  What counts as vigorous-intensity aerobic activity?
Examples of activities that require vigorous effort for most people include:
jogging or running, swimming fast,skipping rope, vigorous dancing, running up and down the stairs.
Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity means you're breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate has gone up quite a bit. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.
In general, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity can give similar health benefits to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity.

Muscle-strengthening activity?

   Muscle-strengthening exercises are exercise that strengthen the muscles and also help in adding more tone to the muscles like weight lifting, sit-up, push-ups,planks etc..muscle strengthening exercises do not give results without the help of aerobics..

Healthy weight

  Adults who are overweight can improve their health by meeting the activity guidelines, even if they don’t lose weight.
To lose weight, you are likely to need to do more than 150 minutes a week and make changes to your diet. Start by gradually building up towards 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week. To get health benefits from muscle-strengthening activities, you should do them to the point where you struggle to complete another repetition.

  Exercise is important, no matter how little. As the year comes to an end, try to make it one of your resolutions for the new year, I hope this tips have been useful??

Butt Exercises

 I'm sure every lady wants a nice rounded butt (I know I do)..thankfully I think am okay in that area, but every part of our body needs maintenance..lol..our butt inclusive. Most times am stressed about the idea of working out( in particular running or jogging) without losing my butt..so I did a lil research and got some results..there were a lot of results that came up,but on the average this workouts seem to be the basic ones to know if u want to have a nice toned butt

Marching Hip Raise

  Lie faceup on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Raise your hips so your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. (A) Lift one knee to your chest (B), lower back to the start, and lift your other knee to your chest. Continue to alternate back and forth.

Single-Leg Hip Raise

  Lie faceup on the floor with your left knee bent and your right leg straight. Raise your right leg until it’s in line with your left thigh. (A) Push your hips upward, keeping your right leg elevated. (B) Pause, then slowly lower your body and leg back to the start position. Complete the prescribed number of repetitions with your left leg, then switch and do the same number with your right leg

Single-Leg Deadlift

 Grab a pair of light dumbbells and stand on your left foot. (If dumbbells make this too hard, just use your body weight.) Lift your right foot behind you and bend your knee so your right leg is parallel to the floor. (A) Bend forward at your hips, and slowly lower your body as far as you can, or until your right lower leg almost touches the floor. (B) Pause, then push your body back to the starting position. If this exercise is too difficult, let the toes of your shoe rest on the floor for balance instead of raising the foot of your non-working
leg.

Squats
 Squats are very versatile, and have proved to be very effective in toning the butt. They are relatively simple to do and require no equipment most times, expect you want to improvise. Remember those days we use to squat as punishment in high school, well...they might have looked like torture, but it really helps the butt and also the thighs.. below are various ways you could do your squats. If you don't have dumbells.or barbells, you could still try these workouts

Diet Cola: Weight Gain and Ageing

  Hi everyone, for those of us that are very conscious about our weight, am sure we've at one time or the other decided to take the diet cola route (I know I have)..lol...because we think its healthier...but new studies have proven otherwise.
  Diet colas have long been regarded as the dieter's friend - but one-calorie fizzy drinks may actually be the reason you can't shift that stubborn spare tyre.

  Some health experts now believe the chemicals in the drink could actually be causing your body to lay down fat deposits around your middle - dubbed 'diet cola belly and that's not all: some experts also believe diet cola’s mix of carbonated water, colourings and sweeteners such as aspartame and acesulfame K could also speed up the ageing process, and have disastrous health consequences.
 
    Diet cola is NOT going to help you lose weight, say health experts - and it could even cause wrinkles Hoards of nutritionists and scientists now claim diet cola’s image as a 'healthy' alternative to the nine-teaspoons-of sugar, regular variety of the fizzy drink is wholly misplaced.

WEIGHT
  The fructose, artificial sweeteners, and sugar alcohols (another type of low-calorie sweetener) present in diet colas can all interfere with natural gut bacteria, according to Amanda Payne of Switzerland’s Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health which published a paper in the journal Obesity Reviews.

 Diet cola could be causing fat deposits around your middle, say health experts this messes up your metabolism and disrupts the body’s way of signaling to you that you’re full and satisfied.As a consequence, the body pumps out insulin, the hormone that controls sugar levels and fat storage, so that you lay down what Toribio-Mateas calls 'diet cola belly in the form of more fat around the midriff' - just where you wanted to shed fat.

 In addition to this: 'The fake sugars in the drink are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and trick your brain into thinking real sugar is on the way,' says Toribio-Mateas. 'When the calories don’t arrive, it triggers a cascading effect that interferes with hunger signals, blood sugar levels and satiety.'

AGEING
 Amanda Griggs, director of health and nutrition at the Balance Clinic in London, says: 'phosphoric acid, the ingredient that gives diet cola its appealing tangy taste and the tingle you get when it is swallowed, can cause a host of problems'.
According to one, study, published in a 2010 issue of the FASEB Journal, it can even accelerate the ageing process.It found that the excessive phosphate levels found in sodas caused lab rats to die a full five weeks earlier than the rats whose diets had more normal phosphate levels.

 Diet cola no healthier than sugary alternatives, say some health experts The chemicals in diet cola could be responsible for your spare tyre, say some experts
The excessive phosphate levels found in sodas caused lab rats to die a full five weeks earlier than the rats whose diets had more normal phosphate levels. Phosphoric acid has also been linked to lower bone density in some studies, including a discussion in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 Go for healthier alternatives instead like: orange juice, yoghurt, or better still jst drink water...I hope y'all have gained from this lil post of mine.....ciao

MOVE

  Hey everyone,I know we always make up excuses not to work out....excuses like "I'm slim, I dnt need it, I'm tired,..... but the basic thing is that exercise doesn't have to be boring and bogus and difficult, you could just start by MOVING!!!...sounds easy right??...yeeh!!!
  start by doing simple things like walking, taking the stairs, stretching every now and then...even dance, shake away all those extra fat ,or just add more tone to your already slim body, a lil yoga could also go long way in making you fit a more healthy...let's move!!!..xoxo