Eating healthy: Some diet tips.

Diet and exercise, which one is more important when it comes to loosing weight? Looking at this question realistically, let’s say you decided to devour a donut which is roughly 400 calories, it would take you about half an hour of intense cardio to burn that off. It only takes 3 minutes to polish off a sweet delicacy, but so much more to loose it.

To answer this question, yes, your diet is more important than exercise in loosing weight. For many people, diet is the key factor, and depending on what your diet is, this can make or break your weight loss goals. This does not mean you should drop exercise all together, it just simply means be careful of the things that you eat.

When people think of diets they may think of boring meal plans consisting of foods that are tasteless and have no variety to them. This is far from the truth. There is a plethora of recipes online and in books which describe how to make very tasty and healthful dishes. Another helpful tip is to have fun with different spices when cooking. You will be surprised how good baked chicken tastes with the combination of basil, pepper, Italian seasoning, fresh ginger, and a dash of peanut oil. The key to any diet is to have variety and to remember a diet is a life style change. Because of this, it is wise to enjoy the food you are eating. Like your exercise routines, it is also important to change up a diet and try new foods.

Another tip that works for most dieters is to keep a food journal. You can be specific or as general as you would like to be, but the key here is to take responsibility for everything you put in your mouth. By keeping a food diary, you are completely honest with yourself about sticking to your diet. It will also be hard to make excuses for eating five or six donuts during the day mindlessly.

Here are some other small tips that will help you start off your diet the right way

• Eat smaller meals at least 4 to 6 times a day. This helps your metabolism

• Drink enough water. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger.

• Keep pop drinking to a minimum. If you drink pop several times a day, slowly wean yourself off by replacing it with crystal light, tea, or something healthier.

• Keep junk food and other tempting foods out of the house. If you have a family or share food with other people, have them put it in a place where you will not be tempted to sneak a bite.

• Avoid skipping meals. It is very likely you will overeat during your main courses such as lunch and dinner. If you are always on the go, make it a priority to pack small snacks such as fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, crackers, granola, etc. My personal favorite is humus and carrot sticks.

• Never ever skip breakfast. While you should never skip a meal, breakfast is one meal where skipping is no exception. A healthy breakfast will help jump start your day and give you energy in the morning.

• Reduce do not eliminate. Having a healthy diet does not mean giving up food you enjoy eating, it just means reducing the amount you eat. I personally like to use measuring cups to make sure I am sticking to serving sizes of my favorite ice cream, chips or fatty foods.

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Thursday Thirteen and a video boys and girls

HBO had shown a film, "Lazarus Effect" sometime in May. I was happy JoinRed posted the video up this 31 minute long documentary on YouTube. The main idea is getting rid of aids in Africa and what we can do to help. So instead of rambling I am going to go ahead and post the video up.

While you are watching feel free to add in your link and/or a comment.

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Ever seen a baby with a bong?

Nowadays, facebook is the perfect place to post up pictures on ANYTHING. If you want to share your druken memories with the whole world, all you need is someone with a camera, and the ability to tag pictures. It also takes the ability not to know your privacy setting options (I learned that the hard way)

People are posting a lot of images up, some of which might be considered disturbing to others. Speaking of disturbing, ever seen a baby with a beer bong? Yes, I realize that parents post pictures of their kids all the time because they're so gosh darn proud of their bundle of joy or their cuties, but seriously taking a picture with your little one by a drug appliance? I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. There is actually a picture of an 11 month old putting his mouth on a marijuana beer bong. So obviously he isn't inhaling it, but I would like to know what type of parent finds humor in sharing that sort of picture on facebook. Perhaps I need a sense of humor, but that would be stretching it if I were ever to say this sort of picture was funny and acceptable.

To read the actual article, click HERE



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Music Monday

So today's band of Music Monday is Hungry Lucy. Honestly today I just feel lazy and worn out to really write out my own description, so I have decided to copy and paste the band description from Wikipedia along with their link. By the way Hungry Lucy is not entirely a new band, and I am not sure if they are coming out with any new music yet. If they are, please let me know.

Hungry Lucy is a darkwave, trip-hop duo with a female vocalist. Beginning in 1998, they have released four full-length CDs. On Alfa Matrix in Europe (including EU only 2CD boxset versions) and on Hungry Media for the US. Led by Christa Belle (lyrics, vocals, music) and War-N Harrison (music, programming and production), the two came together when Harrison was asked to contribute work on a Depeche Mode tribute album in 1998.

The name "Hungry Lucy" refers to a young woman named Lucy Ryan who died in 1792. According to the ghost story of Havoc House, Psychic Sybil Leek is claimed to have channeled Ryan, and reported that Ryan was constantly complaining about being hungry.^[1]

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Religous tolerance

For the longest time, I had little faith that there was a God. I went through many rough patches in high school and the first few years of college. During that time, my belief in God slowly began to diminish. Unlike most people who find God during their times of sorrow and regret, I pushed myself away from him. As I grew older, I realized how crucial religion was to my spirituality.

I was born and raised a Hindu, but found myself growing apart from it. I never took the time to understand this religion I was born into. However, I found that as I grew older, the more I needed my religion as a guide. I always believed that when it came to religion, it should be a guiding mechanism, and not as a control.

One of my associates is also going through the same thing with her religion Christianity. One day we started talking, and she started to question my religion, and I told her how much I knew. I was honest, and said I was still learning about Hinduism.

She then went on to tell me that America needed to go back to Christian roots in order to be saved by God, and the only way was through Christ. Inside I felt overly offended because for someone who is not Christian, I felt attacked. Because I did not believe in Christ, I was indirectly told that I would not be "saved" I kindly informed her that when the country was founded, it was found on the basis that church and state are separate (of course in today's political arena, we know that is NOT true). She retorted that the country was founded by Christian beliefs, and part of me knew that wasn't true. I remember reading somewhere that they were deists, and did not let the bible control what was written in the constitution. I realize that there was a chance I could be wrong. Still, even if they were true Christians, they were also free thinkers, and established in the constitution the separation of church and state. I felt the urge to debate her, but I felt it would have been a loosing battle.

The air between us started to get tense. Inside, I had so much I wanted to say, but I did not want to be disrespectful to her beliefs, even though I felt she did not show the same acceptance towards mine. I admired her strong beliefs in her religion, but I felt that she was intolerant to those who did not believe in Christ. I was always taught by my elders that it is a duty to respect your religion as well as other people's religion.

There are many paths to God I have found, and the path you choose is up to you, I believe. From that rigid conversation with my co-worker, I found the need to study other religions as well as my own. Religious tolerance is something I highly believe in, and in order to be tolerant, the first step is to first learn about those beliefs that are not similar to yours.

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Boom, Boom, KABOOM!

The past week has been quite interesting in terms of weather. It has been raining at least once everyday, and I have found an odd comfort in the violent rain and angry thunder. Yesterday my friend and I drove back from a convention in Perioa and saw quite a few drivers seeking shelter underneath the overpass and bridges. Sadly one truck decided to speed up on a ramp, and due to that thoughtless action, his truck flipped over on the side. Not a great idea to speed, especially when rain is coming at you really fast on the express way.

There have been days these past two weeks where the sky will be perfect, sunny and cheery, and just within a matter of minutes, the sky will turn dark and gray and release everything which has been held in the clouds. Sort of like someone who has been keeping all the anger and frustration in just to let it out in a violent fashion.

Despite the tornado warnings, flash flood warnings and other weather warnings, nothing treacherous happened around my area. Today the weather is really nice and sunny. I'm just waiting for the skies to turn gray and Mother Nature to finish venting all her frustrations. I really hope she waits till I get home, b/c I didn't bring an umbrella. Oh well, if its one thing I learned the hard way, its Mother Nature doesn't wait when things are convenient for others.

Did I mention I find thunder, lightning and the sound of heavy rain comforting and breathtaking. Here is something else I found that is comforting.

Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

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Music Monday

So I decided that Monday is hereby declared "Music Mondays" Plus, it gives me an excuse to share some independent artists hardly heard on the radio. This Monday's artist is James Yuill. Yuill also called "the one man band" creatively mixes his acoustic guitar, laptop and decks to create some pretty amazing music. A lot of his songs are a fusion of folk and electronica, and Yuill is able to merge this combination beautifully. One of my all time favorite song by this artist in which you can hear a mixture of folk and electronica is "No surprise"

To check out more of James Yuill's music just visit his website

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Mmmmm. Relaxing music

Recently, I was looking for some relaxing music to play in the background while either cleaning, sleeping, or just reading. I was happy to find this AMAZING website called Dalishini. The music consists of a wonderful mixture of east and west, sort of like a fusion. The Dalishini home page is accompanied by a pleasant instrumental. According to the artists of this East and West Fusion, they ask their listeners "Are you interested in music that combines the best of Eastern and Western melodies, rhythms & instruments? At Dalishni, we have music that ranges from soft & soothing, through uplifting, to funky and even rocky."

The website has quite a few free downloads, and each song (mp3 format) is about a dollar. In addition, they have quite a few subliminal messages within their music, along with self improvement collections, mood music, nature sounds, fusion sounds, and Western sounds. If you're searching for something serene, calm, and soothing, check out this website. Chances are you'll find something suited to your taste. Below is a sample from one of their songs. Hope y'all enjoy it!




To get more music, just visit DALISHNI

Have a great weekend everybody! :)

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BP executives told by Rep. Cao to commit suicide

It's no surprise that there are many individuals who are livid at how BP executives are treating the oil spill fiasco. Rep. "Joseph" Cao from Louisiana received many responses when he supposedly indirectly implied that BP executives should commit suicide or "harakiri"

Samurai warriors back in the 12th century used to take their own lives to protest a decision or to support a greater cause. Later during the 15th century, the Japanese emperor used harakiri as punishment. Japanese officials would also commit this act to atone for a clumsy or poor deed or job that was done.

When watching the clip, it appeared that Cao was not indirectly or directly implying that the executive actually kill himself, he was giving an example of what his people did back in the day. I think the message he was trying to point out was that BP's acts have been shameless and would have been a reason why harakiri would have been committed a long long time ago. He then continues to explain that he and his constituents have not decided what should be done with BP because the truth is the BP executives have done a horrible job with stopping and handling the oil spill. It is very easy to twist someone's words around or to bring out suggestions which really aren't there. I admit that it probably was not a wise choice of words to bring up the suicide tradition to congress and the American public, however people need to stop taking things so literally.

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Do you have a thirst for knowledge?

Just several months ago, I saw that ChaCha was hiring for guides. I went ahead and applied for the expediter position, passed the test, did a simulation run, and in no time, was answering questions, or sending them off to different specialists to answer. For those who are not aware of what ChaCha is, it basically is an answering texting service like KGB. Only difference between ChaCha and other answer texting services is ChaCha is free. Users only pay the fees charged for texting by their carrier. They do place a limit on the number of questions people can ask in a certain time limit.

I started working for ChaCha in February and loved how I could work around my own schedule. I make an average of about 5 to 10 dollars a day, which is pretty good since I do this during my free time when I'm not working. The great thing about working for ChaCha is you can work whenever you want and for however long you want. There are different roles you can apply for depending on what you feel comfortable with. The pay rates are different for each role, and while I do not recommend quitting your day job, it is nice to work for ChaCha as a supplemental income. The only thing you will need is a decent internet connection and Firefox. Personally I've learned the most weirdest, random, and even the most interesting facts just by joining this service. If you are one of those people where you find delight in learning something new everyday, ChaCha is a wonderful service to work for. While it will not make you rich, it will help pay some of the bills, and who can complain about that.

To see a list of roles and qualifications visit GUIDE ROLES.
For specific information regarding working for ChaCha, visit FAQ

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Words of wisdom.... wear sunscreen

I love finding quotes, stories, or anecdotes on anything inspiring or uplifting. I believe that hearing words of wisdom, or taking in doses of encouragement can help us travel the difficult road ahead.

As soon as I heard Baz Luhrmann's wear sunscreen speech several years ago, I had to share it with everyone I saw. These words still resonate with me today, and with each day that I get older, I find his advice to be even more and more true. So with further ado... here is "Wear Sunscreen"

Edit: I forgot to mention that Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune is the original author of this inspiring speech. According to research, this would have been the speech she would have given at a commencement. Wherever this speech is given, it can be agreed that it fits in well with all areas of life.

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Toxic pet foods,

If you're a pet owner, then you are probably aware that human food is not the best pet food. Sometimes we let this pass, and allow the dog to lick the left overs, or devour the remaining chicken bones. While it may be o.k. to feed our pets human food in small amounts, there are certain foods that we eat that should NEVER be fed to our pets. These foods include avocado, onion powder, chives and garlic, grapes and raisins, yeast dough, left over meat bones, chocolate and high caffeine, sugarless candy, and food with high salt and fat content. Foods such as these contain dangerous toxins and chemicals which can be deadly to pets. Left over meat bones present a risk to an animal because of the choking hazards. Feeding dogs grapes or raisins can cause kidney failure.

The following article gives the dangers of each food, and exactly how it affects your pet's health. It's important to be aware of this because we all want our furry friends to live a long and healthy life

Foods poisonous to pets

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Common interview myths that can cost you your job

Let's face it, in today's circus of an economy, landing a decent job, actually, even landing any job is tough. If you are just graduating from college, you are either continuing on to grad school (like me) OR you are sick and tired of school and immersing yourself in the real world. Interviews are unavoidable in almost every job application process, and knowing how to tackle them is always beneficial to your work in finding a job. Yahoo came out with the common interview myths that can cost you a job. Click here to find out more.

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GRE blues

Since it is about a week past new years, I believe a HAPPY NEW YEAR is long over due. I hope everyone had a restful winter break, whether it was several days to a month of vacation. I am back at work, and ready to start my LAST semester as an undergrad.

I notice that I have not posted since November. The past 2 months, I have been preparing for the GRE (graduate entrance exams) in order to apply to grad school by the fall time. My hope is to get into Northern, but I've got a few other back up choices just in case. My boyfriend and his parents can tell I'm extremely nervous about the exam, which I know is REALLY bad for test taking. The Barron's practice exams are ridiculously hard, specifically the analogies. I have took practice tests, bought several prep books, and I still feel unprepared.

If anyone has recently taken the GRE, I would love to hear your experiences with them, it would sure give me a better idea of the experience I should expect. It's been FOREVER since I've taken a standardized test.

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